Family Allowance
Family Allowance provides financial assistance to all eligible families who have one or more dependent children under age 18.
When to file an application?
If your child is born in Québec,
you do not have to apply to receive Family Allowance. When the birth of a child is declared to the
Directeur de l'état civil 
, the child is automatically signed up for the Family Allowance measure.
You must file an application for Family Allowance Payments if:
- you adopt a child
- you are an immigrant or become a resident of Québec
- your child arrives in or returns to Québec
- you live in Québec but your child was born outside Québec
- you obtain custody of a child
- you obtain shared custody of a child
- you retain custody of a child following a separation or the death of your spouse and you are not already receiving Family Allowance in your name.
- Retraite Québec requires an application to be filed.
Access your file online at any time!
My Account allows you to:
- update your information
- file and track your applications
- find out the amounts that you have received or will receive
- receive and consult your documents digitally only
- sign up for notifications to receive an email and/or a text message when changes are made to your file or when a document is uploaded to your file.
Your first payment
We will send you your first Family Allowance payment within a
maximum of 40 days following receipt of the declaration of your child's birth from the
Directeur de l'état civil .
Note
that...
- We can pay Family Allowance retroactively for
a period of 11 months from the date an application is received if all of the eligibility requirements are met.
- To receive Family Allowance, both parents must file their Québec income tax return, even if one or both of them do not have any income to declare. For more information on the income tax return, see
Revenu Québec's Website
Calculation of the amount
The
amount of Family Allowance varies from one family to another. It is calculated on the basis of:
- the number of children under age 18 who are living with you
- the number of children in shared custody
- your family income
- your family situation (single-parent or two-parent).
To enable us to calculate the amount to which you are entitled, you and your spouse must file a
Québec income tax return.
Terms of payment
-
Family Allowance payments are made to only one person per family.
- In cases of shared custody, Family Allowance is paid to both parents, according to the payment frequency (quarterly or monthly) chosen by each parent.
- A change in family status may have an effect on the amounts to which you are entitled. If you receive overpayments, you will have to
repay us.
Change in your family situation
Following a
change in your family situation, we recalculate your Family Allowance.
In order to receive the amounts to which you are entitled, you must
notify us if any of the following changes occur:
- A change in your conjugal situation (marriage, divorce, separation, etc.)
- New dependent child (adoption, obtained custody, etc.)
- A change in child custody time (end or start of shared custody)
- New Québec resident
- Change of immigrant status in Canada
- Leaving Québec
Handicapped children
If you are responsible for the care and education of a child whose impairment or mental function disability significantly limits him or her in carrying out life habits for a period expected to last for at least one year, you could be entitled to the
Supplement for Handicapped Children.
A child eligible for the Supplement for Handicapped Children could also be eligible for the
Supplement for Handicapped Children Requiring Exceptional Care. The measure provides parents with financial assistance in assuming extraordinary responsibilities in administering care to or being constantly present for a child with a serious illness or severe disabilities.
Other useful links