Protecting a Minor Child: Tutorship, Trusts and Designations

She is 57, her daughter is 14. On the beneficiary designation form, the choice seemed obvious: her daughter's name, spelled out in full. The policy exists for her.

The question nobody asked her that day is this one: who will receive that money, and when?

In Québec, the answer does not depend on the insurance contract. It depends on the Civil Code, on the tutorship regime, on a $40,000 threshold and on a birthday. And the result often surprises parents who thought they had settled everything by writing down a name.

At 18, the money becomes theirs, with no conditions

Article 153 of the Civil Code of Québec is brief: "Full age or the age of majority is 18 years. On attaining full age, a person ceases to be a minor and has the full exercise of all his civil rights."

Éducaloi describes the consequence: "Tutorship ends automatically when the minor reaches full age, on full emancipation or on death." The organization adds that parents must always provide the child with a final administration report when they turn 18, even if the value of the property is less than $40,000.

In concrete terms: life insurance money paid for the benefit of a minor child is administered until they turn 18, then handed over to them. What they do with it afterwards is nobody else's business. For some families, that is exactly the point. For others, a substantial amount handed over all at once on an eighteenth birthday is not the plan they had in mind — and that is precisely the conversation to have before signing.

Who administers the money until then

Article 192 lays down the basic rule: in addition to the rights and duties connected with parental authority, parents, if of full age or emancipated, "are of right the tutors of their minor child in order to ensure his representation in the exercise of his civil rights and to administer his patrimony." There is therefore nothing to ask a court for: legal tutorship exists on its own.

Éducaloi spells out the point that matters at death: "On the death of one of the parents, tutorship is assumed by the other parent alone." In an intact family, that is straightforward. In a separated family where the other parent is not very present, or in open conflict with the deceased, that sentence deserves a second reading.

Article 208 frames the mandate: "The tutor acts in respect of the property of the minor as an administrator charged with simple administration." Éducaloi draws the practical consequence: tutors must act with prudence, diligence, honesty and loyalty, they are prohibited from using the child's funds for personal purposes, and they may invest the money, "but only in 'presumed sound' investments, that is, low-risk ones."

The $40,000 threshold changes the regime

This is the number to remember, and it appears in three places in the Civil Code.

Article 209 exempts parents from the inventory, the security, the annual account of management and the authorizations of the tutorship council or the court, "unless the value of the property exceeds $40,000 or the court orders otherwise, on the application of an interested person."

Article 213 requires, for major transactions — a large loan, security on property, the alienation of an immovable or of an enterprise — the authorization of the tutorship council or, "if the value of the property or of the security exceeds $40,000, of the court, which seeks the advice of the tutorship council."

And article 217 targets the person who pays — including the liquidator, Québec's term for what the rest of Canada calls an executor:

"Where the value of the property exceeds $40,000, the liquidator of a succession devolved or bequeathed to a minor and the donor of property, if the donee is a minor or, in all cases, any person who pays an indemnity for the benefit of a minor, shall notify the public curator and indicate, as the case may be, the value of the property or the amount of the indemnity, at least 15 days before the transmission of the property or the payment of the indemnity."

The phrase "any person who pays an indemnity for the benefit of a minor" is deliberately broad. The second paragraph sets aside the 15-day period for an indemnity intended to supplement the parents' support obligation.

Above the threshold, Éducaloi indicates that a further formality is added: the formation of a tutorship council, generally made up of three people appointed by a meeting of relatives, persons connected by marriage or friends, whose role is to supervise what the tutors do. And "the Public Curator must supervise the management of all dative tutors and also of legal and supplementary tutors who manage property worth more than $40,000."

Appointing a tutor: what you can decide in advance

Article 200 offers a possibility that few parents use: "The father or the mother or one of the parents may appoint a tutor to their minor child by will, by a protection mandate or by a declaration to that effect filed with the public curator."

Éducaloi explains how this dative tutorship works; it opens in particular if both parents die. The person chosen can refuse the office, and whether they accept or refuse, they must communicate their decision to the Public Curator. A minor may have more than one tutor: "only one 'to the person' and several 'to property.'"

That distinction is the most underrated tool in this whole article. The tutor to the person exercises parental authority and must be a natural person. The tutor to property manages the money, and Éducaloi notes that this tutor "is not necessarily a natural person. It may, for example, be a trust company specializing in property management."

In other words, the person who will raise your child and the one who will administer their money do not have to be the same. Our guides on the forms of will in Québec and on the estate liquidator explain where these designations are written down.

The money that escapes tutorship entirely

Article 210 opens another door, and it is the one notaries use when a client wants to frame how a sum is used beyond age 18:

"Property given or bequeathed to a minor on condition that it be administered by a third person is withdrawn from the administration of the tutor."

The second paragraph adds that if the act does not indicate the administration regime, the person administering has the rights and obligations of a tutor to property. Éducaloi gives an illustration: a will can provide that a child inherits a sum "that will be managed until they reach full age by a foundation or a financial institution."

The trust goes further still. Article 1260 defines it: "A trust results from an act whereby a person, the settlor, transfers property from his patrimony to another patrimony constituted by him which he appropriates to a particular purpose and which a trustee undertakes, by his acceptance, to hold and administer." It is this mechanism that makes it possible, for example, to stagger payments rather than hand everything over on an eighteenth birthday.

A warning is needed here, and it is an important one. How a beneficiary designation fits together with a will or a trust is not a matter of forms: it is a matter of legal drafting, and an error in how the pieces are arranged can bring the whole thing down. Our guide on beneficiary designation shows just how much the wording matters in Québec. That kind of structure is put together at a notary's office, not over a counter.

What already exists for children

Three reminders, because they add to any private planning.

Retraite Québec pays an orphan's pension and a surviving spouse's pension under certain conditions: our guides on the orphan's pension and on the surviving spouse's pension set out the rules. Remember that Québec does not take part in the Canada Pension Plan and that these benefits come under the Québec Pension Plan (QPP).

On the estate side, the parental union reform came into force on June 30, 2025. A de facto (common-law) spouse who has a shared child born or adopted on or after that date is in a parental union, and article 653 of the Civil Code, amended in 2024, now places them within legal devolution. Our guide on dying without a will sets out who receives what.

Finally, Éducaloi points out that a minor can manage their allowance and employment income on their own, and that from age 14 they are considered an adult for everything to do with their employment, their art or their profession.

Frequently asked questions

Can I write into the policy that the money will be paid at 25?

A beneficiary designation names a person; it is not the place to write conditions of use. The mechanisms the Civil Code provides for that are those in articles 210 and 1260 — administration by a third person, a trust — and they are drafted with a notary. Do not improvise this part on an insurer's form.

If I name my sister as beneficiary "for my children," does that work?

Money paid to a person of full age belongs to them. What they promise to do with it rests on their word, not on the insurance contract, and that money enters their own patrimony, with everything that implies in the event of a separation, debts or death. It is a solution many people imagine and few notaries recommend as is.

Will my ex-spouse administer the money if I die?

If the other parent is alive and exercises legal tutorship, yes: Éducaloi indicates that on the death of one of the parents, tutorship is assumed by the other parent alone. Above $40,000, that administration is framed by a tutorship council and supervised by the Public Curator. If that prospect worries you, it is a subject to take to a notary, not to leave to the form.

Is the Public Curator automatically notified?

Article 217 requires notice to the public curator where the value of the property exceeds $40,000, at least 15 days before the payment, and that obligation covers in particular any person who pays an indemnity for the benefit of a minor. Below that threshold, article 209 exempts parents from the formalities.

Does this text replace a notary's advice?

No. We explain published general rules; we give neither legal advice nor insurance advice. As soon as a minor child, a blended family or a substantial sum is involved, a notary is the right person to talk to.

Sources

• Civil Code of Québec, articles 153, 192, 200, 208, 209, 210, 213, 217 and 1260, consolidated text, LégisQuébec: https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/CCQ-1991 (accessed August 11, 2026)
• Éducaloi, "La tutelle au mineur": https://educaloi.qc.ca/capsules/la-tutelle-au-mineur/ (accessed August 11, 2026)
• Éducaloi, "L'union de fait : l'union des conjointes et conjoints de fait": https://educaloi.qc.ca/capsules/l-union-de-fait-l-union-des-conjointes-et-conjoints-de-fait/ (accessed August 11, 2026)
• Government of Québec, "Tutelle des biens du mineur : outils et formulaires du Curateur public": https://www.quebec.ca/justice-et-etat-civil/protection-legale/tutelle-biens-mineur/outils-formulaires-curateur-public (accessed August 11, 2026)

This text presents general information about Québec law. It is neither legal advice nor insurance advice. For your own situation, consult a notary.