Receiving Support Payments Directly – Applying for an Exemption
You can receive your support payments directly from the payer of support and not through us. To be able to receive the payments in this way, you and the payer of support have to agree to apply for an exemption.
Requirements
Mutual consent
You and the payer of support must agree that the payments should be made directly and not through us. The court must be satisfied that both parties have given free and informed consent.
Security
An exemption can only be granted if the payer of support provides security. Security is a guarantee of payment usually provided as a sum of money. It can also be a suretyship or a letter of guarantee issued by a financial institution.
The security must cover one month's support. The payer of support has 30 days from the date of the judgment to provide the security.
If security is provided in cash, we pay the person who provided it interest on it at the rate set by law.
If you and the payer of support agree that the payments should be made directly and not through us, you may be able to submit a joint application for an exemption to the court while your proceedings are in progress. You can speak to a legal advisor, who can also help you complete the legal documents for the application.
If you get help from a legal advisor, they must file the application for an exemption with the court on your behalf. If the application is accepted, the terms will be included in the judgment.
If you prepare the application on your own, clearly show that you and the payer of support agree that the payments should be made directly.
If a judgment already determines your support, you can submit your application for an exemption to the special clerk of the Superior Court.
You and the payer of support must make a joint application and clearly show that you both agree that the support payments should be made directly.
Submit your application for an exemption to the Office of the Superior Court at the courthouse. To find the nearest courthouse, go to the Trouver un palais de justice page on the Ministère de la Justice du Québec website.
End of the exemption
The exemption can end in any of the following situations:
- The payer of support is not making the payments as set out in the agreement. To inform us, you can send us a completed copy of the Application for Cessation of Exemption (form PPA-104-V) by registered mail.
- You and your ex-spouse apply jointly to end the exemption. To apply, you can send us a completed copy of the Application for Cessation of Exemption (form PPA-104-V) by registered mail.
We must return the security to the person who provided it at their request, but will do so only if the following conditions are met:
- The person has been exempted for at least two years.
- The person has no arrears or other fees or charges owing as at the date of the request.
- You agree to the security being returned.
Complete and send us form PPA-70-V, Consent to Have Security Returned: Exemption, to let us know that you agree to the security being returned.
The return of security under such conditions does not affect the support judgment; you retain the right to notify us that the payer of support is not making their payments.
We return any unused security to the payer of support if they are no longer required to make payments under a new judgment, provided any arrears and other fees or charges owing have been paid.
If the support obligation ends as the result of an agreement between you and your ex-spouse, your ex-spouse must have the court confirm the agreement. We will return the security to them after receiving the judgment.