Unequal Partition of Family Patrimony in Quebec (2026)

When a couple who lives in Quebec divorces, the law pools the property they accumulated during the marriage into the family patrimony. Under the Civil Code of Quebec (CCQ), the law then divides the net value of the family patrimony equally between the spouses.

However, in some cases, an equal division would create serious unfairness. In those situations, a spouse may apply to the court and ask for an unequal partition of the family patrimony.

When can you ask for unequal partition of family patrimony?

Whilst it is unusual for the court to award unequal partition of family patrimony, article 422 of the CCQ does allow for unequal partition under exceptional circumstances.

Image of Article 422 of the Civil Code of Quebec - Unequal partition of family patrimony. — ***Article 422 of the Civil Code of Québec sets out the conditions that must be met for a court to order an unequal partition of the family patrimony.***

Article 422 states that there are three cases where you can ask for unequal partition of family patrimony. These are:

Brevity of marriage
Bad faith by one spouse
Dissipation or waste of property

Note

The threshold is high. Courts treat unequal division as the exception, not the rule.

Brevity of marriage

Brevity of marriage refers to a very short marriage where the spouses did not meaningfully build or integrate assets together. In some cases, if the marriage lasted only a short time and one spouse brought most of the property into the relationship, an equal 50/50 division of the family patrimony may create an injustice. However, a short marriage does not automatically justify unequal partition. The court will only depart from equal division if the spouse requesting it can show that equal sharing would be seriously unfair in the circumstances.

Bad faith by one spouse

There is no exact definition of what is “bad faith”. However, courts and legal scholars normally interpret it as a spouse who intentionally acts dishonestly or unfairly to deprive the other spouse of their rightful share of the family patrimony. It usually involves intentional misconduct, not simple mistakes or poor financial decisions. For instance, one spouse may sell the family house without the consent of a trusted family member, in order to prevent the other spouse from claiming their share of its value.

Dissipation or waste of property

Dissipation occurs when a spouse deliberately or recklessly reduces the value of family property, especially when the relationship is breaking down. For example, let’s say that one of the spouse intentionally spends, transfers, hides, or squanders assets to prevent the other spouse from receiving their fair share. This could be draining joint bank accounts before separation or selling property for far below market value.

What is the procedure to ask for unequal partition of family patrimony?

Quebec’s Code of Civil Procedure sets out the procedure for how to ask the court for an unequal partition of family patrimony. Under Article 321, the court cannot award was not asked for. Therefore, you must formally ask for unequal partition of the family patrimony. To do this you can either, include your request in your application for divorce, your answer (if you are responding to a divorce proceeding) or an amended application (if needed).

You can access the divorce forms on the website for the Superior Court of Quebec.

What can a judge decide to do?

If the judge decides on the balance of the evidence presented that dividing the family property equally would be unfair, the judge can either:

Divide the family property unequally.
Decide not to divide some property.
Decide not to divide the family property at all.

Frequently asked questions

The Civil Code of Quebec does not say exactly how short your must have been married for in order to qualify for unequal division of family patrimony. The court will examine the overall circumstances, including whether the spouses meaningfully integrated their finances and accumulated property together. A short marriage alone is not enough.

To file for divorce in Quebec, at least one of the spouses must have been “habitually resident” in Quebec for at least one year before filing the divorce application. This is in accordance with section 3(1) of the federal Divorce Act. This residency requirement gives the Quebec Superior Court jurisdiction to hear the divorce. Otherwise, the court will not have jurisdiction to grant a divorce in that province.

Article 2805 of the Civil Code of Quebec assumes that everyone acts in good faith — in other words, people are expected to be honest and fair. The Code doesn’t give a formal definition of “bad faith,” but legal scholars explain it as acting intentionally against someone else’s rights or in a way that abuses the rules, rather than just making mistakes or poor decisions.

For example, if one spouse were to intentionally hide assets, sell property below its value, or transfer money to prevent the other spouse from receiving their fair share, that could be considered bad faith. In this case, you would need to provide evidence that your spouse intentionally did these things.

Yes. You do need to specifically request unequal partition on your divorce application, amendment, or answer to a divorce proceeding.

No — unequal partition changes how the family patrimony is divided, while compensatory allowance is a payment to compensate a spouse for economic disadvantage.

Final remarks

When a couple applies for a divorce in Quebec, the court calculates the net value of the family patrimony and divides it equally between the spouses. However, in certain cases, the spouse may ask for unequal division of family patrimony. To do this, you must include your request for unequal partition on in your court in your Application for Divorce, Answer, or Amended Application.

To learn more about how assets are split during divorce in Quebec, read more about family patrimony below.

How to ask for unequal partition of family patrimony