Daily Ancestorcontrat de mariage
Contrat de mariage is a marriage contract, a deed drawn up by a notary before the wedding that set out the couple's property arrangements.
A contrat de mariage was a private agreement written by a notaire, separate from the church or civil marriage record. In early Quebec marriage contracts and wills were the most common notarial records; after the mid-1800s contracts became much less common. Indexes exist for several regions.
French civil marriage records sometimes name the notary and the date of the contract, which tells you where to look. The contract itself usually stayed in the notary's files, not with the parish.
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Daily Ancestor. "contrat de mariage." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/contrat-de-mariage. Last checked 2026-10-28.