Legal Information/ Legal Briefs
Legal Briefs
Until 2010, these legal briefs provide examples of judgments pertaining to everyday situations. Beginning in 2012, they deal with various topics of general interest, such as rental issues, family law, human rights, civil liability, insurance, dealings between spouses and social aid. They are intended to inform and to prevent undesirable situations.
Legal Briefs 2025
October
Psychiatric Assessments
Following a court ruling concluding that there is good reason to believe that Olivia represents a danger to herself or to others due to her mental state and ordering that she be confined in an institution, Olivia must undergo a psychiatric assessment. She wonders exactly what this assessment will en
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September
Criminal Harassment: When Letting Go Is Essential
Breaking up with someone always causes problems, whether emotional, financial or even residential. These problems, however, pale in comparison to the legal problems that can result from a poorly handled break-up. Criminal harassment is a broad offence that is defined as committing any of the following acts while knowing that the victim is harassed or while being reckless as to whether the victim is harassed:
(a) repeatedly following from place to place the victim or anyone known to them;
(b) repeatedly communicating, either directly or indirectly, with the victim or anyone known to them;
(c) besetting or watching the dwelling-house, or place where the victim, or anyone known to them, resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or
(d) engaging in threatening conduct directed at the victim or any member of their family.
Repeated unwanted texts or calls, unannounced visits to your former partner’s home, veiled threats of reprisals if they don’t take you back — all of these actions can constitute a criminal offence that is increasingly being prosecuted. Criminal harassment carries a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment and automatically entails an order prohibiting the possession of weapons, regardless of the sentence handed down.
It is therefore crucial, both for your emotional well-being and your freedom, to peacefully accept a break-up, however painful it may be.
For more information on this subject, don’t hesitate to contact your local legal aid office.
Legal brief *
September
2025
Number
09
Text prepared by Me Nicolas Gagnon
Update by CSJ
* The information set out in this document is not a legal interpretation.
The masculine is used to designate persons solely in order to simplify the text.
August
Child Custody: Superior Court Versus
Court of Québec (Youth Division)
Jasmine and John are the parents of two children, Julian and Julie. When they separated, the parents agreed to share custody of their two children and decided to have their agreement confirmed by a court. They therefore obtained a judgment from the Superior Court, Family Division.
Custody was
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April
Protecting Seniors from Economic Exploitation
With demographic aging, we are seeing a worrying increase in situations of financial exploitation of the elderly. This phenomenon manifests itself in various ways:
- Extortion of money: Individuals, often relatives, take advantage of their relationship of trust with seniors to cheat the
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March
I’ve Been Charged With Assault With a Weapon – Really?!?
Clara knows she has a hot temper, and her angry outbursts sometimes get her into trouble, which is exactly what happened a few weeks ago at her son Victor’s soccer game.
A parent from the opposing team wouldn’t stop shouting nonsense, and Clara couldn’t listen to the unbearable screaming any
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January
Repossession of a Rental Property
The owner of a dwelling who is the landlord of the dwelling may repossess it for specific reasons, in general, as a residence for the landlord or for ascendants or descendants in the first degree or for any other relative or person connected by marriage or a civil union of whom the landlord is the m
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