e-19 - Act respecting reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders

Updated to 31 May 2024

This document has official status.

chapter E-19

Act respecting reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders

1. A judgment rendered in a state, province or territory designated under section 10 ordering payment of maintenance may be executed in Québec in accordance with the conditions and formalities prescribed by this Act.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 1; 1982, c. 32, s. 81.

1.1. Where a judgment indicates an amount in a foreign currency, the clerk shall convert the amount to Canadian currency at the rate of exchange in force on the date of the judgment.

1982, c. 32, s. 82.

2. The Attorney General, when he receives from an authorized official source a copy of such judgment, certified a true copy of the original by the judge or a competent officer of the court which rendered it, shall transmit the same to the clerk of the Superior Court of the district where the defendant has his domicile or residence.

If the place of such domicile or residence is not indicated to the Attorney General, he shall transmit the copy of the judgment to the clerk of the Superior Court of the district of Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 2.

3. As soon as he receives such copy of judgment, the clerk shall inscribe thereon the date of its receipt and deposit it in the archives of his office.

Such judgment shall then produce the same effects, particularly as to its execution, as if it had been rendered by a court sitting in Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 3.

4. To have the benefit of the provisions of this Act, the judgment must be in conformity with the laws and rules of public order in force in Québec, especially those relating to marriage or the civil union.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 4; 1982, c. 32, s. 83; 2002, c. 6, s. 140.

5. The incompatibility of the judgment with the laws or rules of public order of Québec may be pleaded by the defendant, by way of opposition to execution.

Such opposition, the procedure on which shall be summary, shall be submitted to the court with all possible dispatch and shall be heard by precedence before any other case.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 5.

6. The creditor under an extra-provincial judgment submitted for decision to the courts of Québec cannot execute it until he has obtained, on an application, from the Superior Court of the district in which the copy of the judgment is deposited, a confirmation of such judgment with or without modification.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 6; I.N. 2016-01-01 (NCCP).

7. In the case of section 6, the depositions or stenographic transcripts of testimony transmitted with the judgment shall be filed in the record of the case as part of the evidence, which may be completed by further legal evidence offered by the parties. The Superior Court shall then render its judgment either confirming or modifying or quashing the extra-provincial judgment.

The judgment of the Superior Court shall be subject to the same legal recourses and right of appeal as if the action had been commenced in Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 7; 1982, c. 32, s. 84.

8. The creditor under a judgment ordering payment of maintenance, rendered in Québec against a person neither domiciled nor resident therein, may have an authentic copy of such judgment transmitted by the clerk to the Attorney General for purposes of execution in a state, province or a territory designated under section 10.

The Attorney General shall transmit such copy to the competent person in the state, province or territory where the debtor has his domicile or residence, in order that such judgment may be executed there in accordance with the laws in force therein.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 8; 1982, c. 32, s. 85.

9. In the case of an action for maintenance before a court of Québec, against a person neither resident nor domiciled therein, the court may, for the purposes of section 8, notwithstanding the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure (chapter C-25.01) and even if the defendant has not been summoned or heard, render a judgment of a provisional nature, subject to the final judgment of the competent court of the place where the defendant resides or is domiciled.

The depositions and stenographic transcripts of the evidence and particulars of the description, identity and residence or domicile of the defendant shall then be transmitted, with the copy of the judgment, by the clerk to the Attorney General, and by the latter to the competent person in the state, province or territory where such judgment is to be executed.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 9; 1982, c. 32, s. 86; I.N. 2016-01-01 (NCCP).

10. The Government may by order designate any state, province or territory which it considers to have legislation substantially similar to the provisions of this Act that authorizes the execution of judgments ordering payment of maintenance rendered in Québec.

The order must further give the date of the coming into force of this Act for each state, province or territory it designates; the order shall be published in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 23, s. 10; 1982, c. 32, s. 87.

11. (This section ceased to have effect on 17 April 1987).

1982, c. 21, s. 1; U. K., 1982, c. 11, Sch. B, Part I, s. 33.

REPEAL SCHEDULE

In accordance with section 17 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes (chapter R-3), chapter 23 of the Revised Statutes, 1964, in force on 31 December 1977, is repealed effective from the coming into force of chapter E-19 of the Revised Statutes.