Best Quebec Mandatary Duties Guide for Newly Appointed Mandataries

If the Superior Court just homologated a protection mandate and you are now the legally appointed mandatary, the best guide is one that starts with what you must do in the first 60 days and works forward from there — not one that starts with how protection mandates are drafted, which is no longer relevant to your situation. You need an operational reference for the role you now hold, with the Bill 18 compliance deadlines, the account-management procedures, the conflict-of-interest rules, and the triennial reporting calendar. The Quebec Power of Attorney Kit includes dedicated mandatary-duties tools — the Bill 18 Asset Inventory workbook, the Mandatary Duties Checklist, and the reporting calendar — designed for the post-homologation phase that most resources skip entirely.

The 60-Day Deadline That Most Mandataries Miss

Bill 18, enacted November 1, 2022, introduced a hard deadline that did not exist under the previous protective regime. Within 60 days of the homologation judgment, the mandatary must complete a detailed inventory of the protected person's entire patrimony — every asset, every debt, every account, excluding only personal effects worth less than $100 individually.

This inventory must be:

• Comprehensive: bank accounts, investment accounts, real property, vehicles, insurance policies, pension entitlements, debts, mortgages, lines of credit, outstanding loans
• Formally executed: signed before a notary, or signed in the presence of two adult witnesses
• Filed: a copy delivered to the designated independent person named in the mandate (or appointed by the court during homologation if the mandate did not name one)

Missing this deadline is not a minor administrative oversight. The court can intervene, appoint a replacement mandatary, or impose additional judicial oversight — all of which cost money and reduce the family's autonomy.

What the Mandatary's Role Actually Requires

The homologation judgment grants you legal authority over the protected person's healthcare decisions, financial management, or both, depending on what the mandate specified. That authority comes with specific obligations under the Civil Code and Bill 18:

Where Free Resources Fall Short for Active Mandataries

The Curateur public and Éducaloi provide excellent explanations of what a mandatary is. They do not provide the operational tools for someone who already holds the role.

The Curateur public explains that an inventory is required. It does not provide an inventory template — no asset categories, no debt columns, no execution block for witness signatures, no filing instructions.

Éducaloi explains the triennial reporting obligation. It does not provide a reporting calendar, a financial-report template, or guidance on what level of detail satisfies the requirement.

Your homologation notary filed the court application and explained the judgment. Their engagement typically ends there — ongoing mandatary compliance is outside the scope of the homologation mandate, and follow-up consultations are billed at $200–$350 per hour.

A kit designed for mandataries fills this gap with purpose-built tools:

• Bill 18 Asset Inventory workbook: categorized asset and debt sections, execution block for witnesses, filing checklist
• Mandatary Duties Checklist: setup duties in the first week, conflict-of-interest rules, account separation requirements
• Reporting calendar: triennial deadlines calculated from the judgment date, with the documentation standard the independent person expects

The Conflict-of-Interest Rules That Trip Up Family Mandataries

Most mandataries are family members — adult children, spouses, siblings. The Civil Code's conflict-of-interest rules apply to family members the same way they apply to professional mandataries:

• You cannot buy property from the protected person, even at fair market value
• You cannot lend money to yourself from the protected person's accounts
• You cannot hire your own business to provide services to the protected person
• You cannot mix the protected person's funds with your own — separate accounts are mandatory

The most common violation is the simplest: paying the protected person's bills from your own account and "reimbursing yourself" from theirs later. Under strict reading of the Civil Code, this creates an unauthorized mixing of patrimony. The correct approach is to pay all expenses directly from the protected person's accounts, or to document personal advances formally with a written record of each amount and repayment.

Who This Is For

• Newly appointed mandataries who received the homologation judgment and need to know what to do in the first 60 days
• Family members serving as mandatary for an aging parent who want to avoid personal liability for compliance failures
• People named in a mandate signed before November 2022 whose mandate is being homologated now — Bill 18's 60-day inventory and triennial reporting rules apply from the homologation date, not the signing date
• Spouses managing a partner's affairs after a stroke or dementia diagnosis, where the protection mandate has been activated through homologation
• Professional mandataries (accountants, social workers) looking for a client-facing reference to share with families

Who This Is NOT For

• People who are setting up a protection mandate for a capable parent — you need the drafting and planning tools, not the post-appointment compliance tools (though the kit includes both)
• Mandataries appointed by the court under tutorship — tutorship has its own reporting framework supervised directly by the Public Curator, which is more restrictive than mandatary accountability
• Families where the mandate has not yet been homologated — the mandatary role does not legally begin until the court judgment is issued

Tradeoffs: Self-Directed Compliance vs Hiring a Professional

For straightforward estates — a family home, bank accounts, a pension, and household debts — a self-directed kit provides everything the mandatary needs. For complex estates with business assets or significant investment portfolios, the kit provides the framework and the accountant provides the detailed financial reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I miss the 60-day inventory deadline?

The court can intervene on its own initiative or at the request of the designated independent person, a family member, or the Public Curator. Consequences range from a judicial order to complete the inventory immediately to replacement as mandatary in serious cases. The 60-day deadline is a hard legal obligation under Bill 18, not a guideline.

Do the Bill 18 rules apply to mandates that were signed before November 2022?

Bill 18's accountability requirements apply based on when the mandate is homologated, not when it was signed. If a mandate was signed in 2015 but homologated in 2023, the mandatary must comply with the 60-day inventory and triennial reporting obligations. If the mandate was homologated before November 1, 2022, the older rules apply (less stringent accountability requirements).

Can I refuse to serve as mandatary?

Yes. A named mandatary can refuse the role before or during homologation, and the court will appoint the substitute mandatary named in the mandate (if any) or proceed with tutorship if no substitute is available. Once you have accepted the role and the court has issued the judgment, withdrawing requires a court application. The Civil Code rule that a sole heir cannot refuse the role applies to liquidators of a succession, not to mandataries under a protection mandate.

What does the triennial report need to include?

The triennial rendering of accounts must include a complete record of income received, expenses paid, assets acquired or disposed of, and the current value of the patrimony — all for the three-year period since the last report (or since the homologation judgment for the first report). The report is submitted to the independent person designated in the mandate. There is no prescribed format under the Civil Code, but the report must be detailed enough for the independent person to verify that the administration has been prudent.

What if the mandate does not name an independent person for accountability?

If the protection mandate does not designate an independent person to receive the triennial accounts, the court appoints one during the homologation proceedings. This increases judicial involvement and may add legal costs. When drafting a new mandate, always include the designation of an independent accountability person to keep the process simpler and less expensive.

The Quebec Power of Attorney Kit includes the Mandatary Duties Checklist, the Bill 18 Asset Inventory workbook, and the triennial reporting calendar — the compliance tools that most mandataries spend months searching for after their appointment.

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