Civil marriage

Yes. In Québec, a notary entitled to receive notarial acts may solemnise civil marriages without any special permission; their celebrant number is their registration number on the roll of the Chambre des notaires. Unlike a court clerk, who solemnises at the courthouse, a notary can do so wherever you choose.

The notice of marriage must be published on the Directeur de l’état civil’s website 20 days before the ceremony, and the marriage must take place within the three months following the expiry of that period. The 20 days start over if the notice has to be corrected, so allow some margin and check names and dates carefully.

Two witnesses attend the ceremony. In addition, you must be accompanied by a witness of full age at the meeting where the notice of marriage is prepared: they must know you well, and if they do not know you well enough, two witnesses will be needed at that stage.

No. The family patrimony is created automatically on marriage and cannot be renounced by contract: it is a matter of public order. A marriage contract is for choosing the matrimonial regime, which is a distinct layer and which can be negotiated.

The family residences, the furniture that furnishes them, the motor vehicles used for family travel, and certain rights accumulated during the marriage, notably RRSPs and earnings registered under the Québec Pension Plan. Excluded are property received by gift or succession, businesses, bank accounts, and investments other than RRSPs.

The partnership of acquests, the default regime in Québec since 1 July 1970. Property owned before the marriage and property received by gift or succession stay private; employment and investment income accumulated during the marriage are acquests and their value is shared. Worth noting: property owned before the marriage stays private, but the income it produces during the marriage becomes an acquest.

Yes. In Québec a marriage contract must be notarial to be valid. It is not a formality added on top: it is the condition of its existence.

No. Marriage has no testamentary effect. Without a will, the rules of legal devolution determine the heirs: the spouse inherits alongside the children, or the parents, or the brothers and sisters, depending on the situation. Marrying and making a will are two separate, complementary steps.

No, and the gap is considerable. De facto spouses form no family patrimony, are governed by no matrimonial regime and owe each other no support, however long they have lived together. Since 30 June 2025, those with a common child born or adopted from that date are in a parental union, which shares the family residences, their furniture and the family’s automobiles and gives the survivor one third of the estate, but stays well short of marriage. A cohabitation agreement and a will offset the rest.

They forward the declaration of marriage to the Directeur de l’état civil within 30 days of the ceremony. That filing is what enters the marriage in the register of civil status, and it is from that register that your marriage certificates will later come.