Prosecutor with the child

What are your children’s rights in your family law file, how can your children make their point of view and desire, among other things, about the custody or access arrangements they wish to exercise?

A practical and intelligent solution is to have them appoint an advocate to represent them, said advocate will act on their behalf as if he or her were an adult. A child can give a mandate to a lawyer at the age of 8 depending on his degree of maturity, but it is more from the age of 10 that one can consider appointing an advocate to the child. It goes without saying that the older the child, the more decisive the desire will be in the eyes of the court.

The professional obligations of the advocate to the child and the limits of his mandate were clearly set out in a decision of the Court of Appeal in 2002 (1). Thus, the role of the advocate in the child is limited to arguing in court the child’s desire. The lawyer must respect his client’s mandate as if he were an adult.

The appointment procedure is simple. The parents may agree on the appointment of a prosecutor and agree on the choice of counsel in particular, in the absence of an agreement between the parties, the court may be called upon to decide on the need to appoint an advocate or order that the child be represented by an attorney. A judgment of the Court is necessary for the appointment to be valid whether it is made pursuant to an agreement or after the representations of the parents’ lawyers.

Once appointed by the Court, the custodial parent will be required to undertake legal aid procedures to obtain a warrant in the name of the child to cover the fees and disbursements that will be incurred in the child’s representation (Fees and disbursements in accordance with the legal Aid tariff). In the event both parents are eligible for legal aid (financial eligibility according to the bylaw), this appointment will not entail any costs to them. However, if the parents are not eligible, the fees and disbursements charged by the prosecutor to the child will be claimed to the parents by the Commission des services juridiques in equal parts.

All in all, using a trusted lawyer to ensure the well-being and interest of your child can only be beneficial to everyone.

(1) M.F. c. J.L. 2002 CanLII 36783 (QCCA).