72. The special clerk may rule on any application, contested or not, whose subject matter is the referral of the originating application to the court having territorial jurisdiction in a case described in article 43, security for costs, the calling of a witness, except in the cases described in article 497, the disclosure, production or rejection of exhibits, the examination or copying of an access-restricted document, or the physical, mental or psychosocial assessment of a person, the joinder of proceedings, amendments to pleadings or particulars to clarify pleadings or a substitution of lawyer and on any application for relief from default or to cease representing. In the course of a proceeding or of execution, the special clerk may rule on any pleading, but only with the parties’ consent in the case of a contested pleading.
In matters relating to support obligations or to the exercise of an attribute of parental authority, including child custody, the special clerk may homologate any agreement between the parties that provides a complete settlement of such matters.
In matters relating to de facto unions, the special clerk may also homologate any agreement between the spouses pertaining to the other consequences of the end of their union, in particular as regards patrimonial rights arising from their community of life.
In order to evaluate the agreement or assess the consent of the parties, the special clerk may convene the parties and hear them, even separately, in the presence of their lawyer or, as applicable, of the notary presenting the application. If the special clerk considers that the agreement does not sufficiently protect the children’s interests or that consent was obtained under duress, the case is referred to a judge or to the court.
An agreement homologated by the special clerk has the same force and effect as a judgment.
Applications that are within the jurisdiction of the special clerk are presented directly to the special clerk and, unless contested, are decided on the face of the record.
2014, c. 1, a. 72; 2020, c. 122020, c. 12, s. 591; 2024, c. 222024, c. 22, s. 301.