Your responsibilities as a parent and dative tutor to property

The responsibilities and obligation of the tutor to the person are not dealt with in this website because they are not within the scope of intervention of the Curateur public, but of the Directeur of Youth Protection of one of Québec's youth protection centres

Whether you are a parent – in other words legal tutor – and your child's patrimony exceeds $25,000, or you are dative tutor to the property, you have certain responsibilities in common.

Guiding principles

In performing your duties, you should be guided by the following principles:

act in the child's interests;
respect the child's rights;
protect their property by acting prudently, loyally and diligently, and taking into account the child's moral, intellectual, emotional and physical needs, as well as factors such as the child's age, state of health or character;
wherever possible, consult the child when you make decisions affecting them, or at least inform them, if they are 14 or older, in a manner appropriate to their maturity and degree of discernment.

Warning: At the age of 14, the child is considered an adult by the Civil Code of Québec for all matters concerning their work or practicing of an art. This means the child may use their income for certain everyday needs. However, at the tutor's request, the court may restrict the amounts at the child's disposal. (In the Understanding tutorship to property menu at the right of the screen, click on Protection of property).

Your obligations and powers

As tutor, you have the obligation to conserve the child's patrimony in order to hand it over to them when they reach the age of majority (18), or when they are emancipated. This is what the Civil Code calls powers of simple administration..

These powers entitle you to perform certain acts alone; for other acts, you have to obtain the authorization of the tutorship council or the court, depending on the amount involved. For more information, see the page on Simple administration of property in the section Understanding tutorship to the property of minors, sub-section Protection of property.

Exercising the child's rights

You also represent the child in the exercise of their civil rights concerning all actions relating to their assets (e.g. instituting legal proceedings, signing a contract, etc.); this means you may act on the child's behalf and in their place.

Role of the tutorship council

The tutorship council has a supervisory role in your administration, but is also there to assist you. Feel free to consult it regarding major decisions.

Reporting on your administration

What to expect from the Curateur public

The Curateur public monitors your administration. Through the person in charge of your file, it is also available to answer your questions, inform you about your obligations and help you to fulfil them.

At the beginning of your administration, you have to give an inventory of the child's property to the tutorship council and the Curateur public. This inventory will be followed by annual administration reports, and a final report at the end of your tutorship.

Another administrator manages part of the child's patrimony

Sometimes parts of the child's assets (capital, indemnity, annuities from an insurance policy, etc.) are administered by someone else. This person may be a trustee, an estate liquidator, or other administrator.

You do not have to report on this other person's administration in your own administration report. However, as tutor, your role is to ensure that the child's property is being properly managed and their interests protected. For example, you may have to examine accounting records and supporting documents or take the appropriate measures to ensure the administrator fulfils their obligations. Should they fail to do so, you may even have to ask the court to replace them.

Remittance of property

If the child is not able
to take care of themselves
upon attaining majority

Before the child reaches majority, during the year when they are 17, you are advised to undertake the necessary formalities for placing them under legal protective supervision for a person of full age (tutorship or curatorship).

Your administration ends when the child attains majority or is emancipated. Once the child has accepted your final administration report, all that remains is for you to give them their deeds of ownership, documents, bank accounts, investments, etc., because your function as tutor has now ended.

Did you take security to guarantee your administration? The child who has now attained majority will grant the release (with the financial institution concerned, for example), i.e. will cancel the security.

If the child dies before the age of 18

In this case, you give your final report and the minor's assets to the estate liquidator. The liquidator will also cancel any security you provided.

If you are no longer able to fulfil your functions

The tutorship council has to ask the court to replace you if you are no longer able to perform your duties. Anyone concerned about the child or the Curateur public may also apply to the court to have you replaced.

You may be reported to the Curateur public for bad administration of the child's property. The Curateur public has powers of investigation and will reach agreement with you about how the situation can be rectified. If this is not successful, the Curateur public will ask the court to replace you.