Common Law Spouse Inheritance Rights Quebec: What De Facto Partners Can and Cannot Claim

If you have lived with your partner for 10 years, raised children together, bought property together, and made every major financial decision as a couple — and they die without a will in Quebec — you inherit nothing from their estate. Not automatically. Not by default. Nothing.

This is the legal reality for de facto spouses (conjoints de fait) in Quebec, and it surprises most people who assume that long-term cohabitation creates some equivalent of marriage. It does not, under the Civil Code of Québec.

Understanding what you are not entitled to is as important as knowing what you can still claim.

What De Facto Spouses Cannot Inherit in Quebec

The Civil Code of Québec explicitly excludes de facto spouses from intestate succession — the legal rules that govern who inherits when someone dies without a valid will. If your partner died without a will, the succession devolves by law to their:

1. Descendants (children, grandchildren)
2. If no descendants: ascendants and collaterals (parents, siblings)

You, as the surviving de facto spouse, have no place in that list regardless of how long you cohabited. A couple who lived together for 30 years and raised three children but never married or entered a civil union has the same inheritance rights as strangers under Quebec law.

There are also no automatic rights to:

• The family residence (even if you lived there for decades)
• Family patrimony (the equalization mechanism that protects married and civil-union spouses does not apply to de facto relationships)
• Spousal support from the estate
• Preferential inheritance of personal property

If the estate includes the house you have shared for 20 years and the deceased's children are the heirs, you may find yourself co-owning that property with people you barely know, or facing a forced sale.

What De Facto Spouses Can Still Claim

Being excluded from intestate succession does not mean you have no entitlements. Several provincial and federal programs define spousal status differently from the Civil Code and will recognize your relationship for benefit purposes.

QPP Surviving Spouse Pension: Retraite Québec will pay you a monthly surviving spouse pension for life if you cohabited with the deceased for at least three years, or for at least one year if a child was born or adopted of your union. The maximum amount in 2026 is $1,173.58 per month for survivors between 45 and 64. This is entirely separate from the succession and is not affected by the absence of a will.

CPP Survivor's Pension: The federal Canada Pension Plan applies the same logic — common-law partners qualify if they can demonstrate cohabitation for at least one year.

CNESST Survivor Benefits: If the death was caused by a workplace accident or occupational illness, the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail treats de facto spouses as eligible for all survivor benefits, including the funeral indemnity and the spousal lump-sum payment (which can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars).

SAAQ Survivor Benefits: If the death occurred in a motor vehicle accident on a public road, the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec similarly recognizes de facto spouses for all compensation purposes, including the significant spousal indemnity tied to the deceased's gross income.

Life Insurance Proceeds: If you were named as beneficiary on a life insurance policy, those proceeds are paid directly to you regardless of what the will says or what Quebec intestate law provides. Life insurance beneficiary designations bypass the succession entirely.

RRSPs and TFSAs: If you were named the beneficiary or the successor holder on registered accounts, those assets also transfer outside the succession.

The critical point: benefits paid by social programs and insurance policies follow their own eligibility rules, not the Civil Code. Exclusion from the succession does not mean exclusion from these programs.

If There Is a Will

If your partner left a valid will naming you as a beneficiary, you inherit what the will specifies. The will overrides the default intestate succession rules. A notarial will takes effect immediately without any court process. A holograph or witnessed will must go through verification first.

The vulnerability of de facto spouses in Quebec is specifically the intestate situation — when there is no will or when a will is successfully contested. With a valid will, your position is as secure as any heir named in it.

Proving Your De Facto Status

When claiming QPP survivor pensions or other social benefits as a de facto spouse, you will need to demonstrate the cohabitation period. Useful documentation includes:

• Joint lease agreements or property ownership documents
• Utility accounts, internet, or insurance policies listing both addresses as the same
• Joint bank accounts or investment accounts
• Tax returns filed from the same address
• Photographs, correspondence, or statements from family members and neighbours

Retraite Québec can deny a de facto survivor pension if it cannot verify the three-year cohabitation. If that happens, you have 90 days to request an administrative review and submit additional documentation.

The Practical Takeaway

Quebec law puts de facto spouses in a genuinely precarious position at the moment of a partner's death. The single most effective protection is a notarial will that names you explicitly as beneficiary — a document that costs a few hundred dollars and eliminates most of the risk.

If your partner has already died without a will, your next steps are to identify every social benefit and insurance policy you qualify for regardless of the succession, and to consult a notary about whether any contractual arrangements (co-ownership agreements, life insurance, designated beneficiaries) apply to your situation.

The Quebec Survivor Benefits Navigator walks through every benefit program in detail, including eligibility criteria, application forms, and the documentation needed to prove de facto status when applying to Retraite Québec, CNESST, and SAAQ.

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