Canadian Forces Superannuation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-17)

Marginal note:Optional survivor benefit

• 25.1 (1) If the person to whom a contributor is married or with whom the contributor is cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year, would not be entitled to an immediate annual allowance under any other provision of this Act in the event of the contributor’s death, the contributor may opt, in accordance with the regulations, to reduce the amount of the annuity or annual allowance to which the contributor is entitled in order that the person could become entitled to an immediate annual allowance under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Payment

  (2) A person referred to in subsection (1) is entitled to an immediate annual allowance in an amount determined in accordance with the option and the regulations if the contributor dies and the option is not revoked or deemed to have been revoked in accordance with the regulations, and the person was married to the contributor at the time of the contributor’s death, or was cohabiting with the contributor in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period of at least one year immediately before the contributor’s death.

• Marginal note:No entitlement

  (3) A person who is entitled to receive an annual allowance under section 29 after the contributor’s death is not entitled to an immediate annual allowance under subsection (2) in respect of that contributor.

Marginal note:Lump sum payments

26 If in this Part it is provided that the survivor and children of a contributor are entitled jointly to a death benefit under subsection 25(6), the total amount of that benefit shall be paid to the survivor of the contributor, except that

• (a) if at the time of the death of the contributor all of the children were eighteen years of age or over and at the time the payment is to be made the survivor is dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid to the children in equal shares;

• (b) if at the time of the death of the contributor any of the children were less than eighteen years of age, and the contributor died without leaving a survivor or at the time the payment is to be made the survivor is dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid to the children in the shares that the Minister considers equitable and proper under the circumstances, or to any of them, as the Minister may direct;

• (c) if any of the children who were less than eighteen years of age at the time of the death of the contributor are living apart from the survivor of the contributor at the time the payment is to be made, the total amount shall be paid to the survivor and the children so living apart in the shares that the Minister considers equitable and proper under the circumstances, or to the survivor or any of the children so living apart, as the Minister may direct; and

• (d) if the contributor died without leaving any children and at the time the payment is to be made the survivor of the contributor is dead or cannot be found, or if the contributor died without leaving a survivor and at the time the payment is to be made all of the children are dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid

  • (i) if the contributor named his or her estate or succession as beneficiary or named another beneficiary under Part II and the beneficiary survives the contributor, to the beneficiary,

  • (ii) if the contributor is not survived by a beneficiary so named and the death of the contributor occurred while he or she was a member of the regular force, to the service estate of the contributor, and

  • (iii) in any other case, to the estate or succession of the contributor or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct.

Marginal note:Apportionment when two survivors

• 26.1 (1) If there are two survivors of a contributor, the share of the total amount referred to in section 26 to be paid to the survivor referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition survivor in subsection 2(1) and the share to be paid to the survivor referred to in paragraph (b) of that definition shall be paid as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Share may be nil

  (2) Nothing in subsection (1) is to be read as limiting the Minister’s power to direct that the share of one or other of the survivors under that subsection is nil.

27 [Repealed, 1989, c. 6, s. 8]

28 [Repealed, 2003, c. 26, s. 18]

Marginal note:Person considered to be the survivor

• 29 (1) For the purposes of this Act, when a person establishes that he or she was cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature with the contributor for at least one year immediately before the death of the contributor, the person is considered to be the survivor of the contributor.

• Marginal note:Person considered to be married

  (2) For the purposes of this Act, when a contributor dies and, at the time of death, the contributor was married to a person with whom the contributor had been cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period immediately before the marriage, that person is considered to have become married to the contributor on the day established as being the day on which the cohabitation began.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive annual allowance — waiver

  (3) A survivor is not entitled to receive an annual allowance if the survivor makes an irrevocable waiver under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Permitted waivers

  (4) A survivor may make an irrevocable waiver in writing only if it results in

  • (a) an increase in the allowance payable to a child under paragraph 25(1)(b); or

  • (b) a benefit being paid under any of sections 38 to 40.

• Marginal note:Time for waiver

  (5) A waiver must be made no later than three months after the survivor is notified of his or her entitlement to an allowance and takes effect as of the date of the death of the contributor.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive benefits — criminal responsibility for death

  (6) A survivor is not entitled to receive any benefit under this Act with respect to the contributor when the contributor dies and the survivor is found criminally responsible for the death.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive annual allowance — missing survivor

  (7) A survivor is not entitled to receive an annual allowance when the contributor dies if it is established to the satisfaction of the Minister that the survivor cannot be found.

• Marginal note:Apportionment of allowance when two survivors

  (8) When an annual allowance is payable under paragraph 25(1)(a) and there are two survivors of the contributor, the total amount of the annual allowance shall be apportioned so that

  • (a) the survivor referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition survivor in subsection 2(1) is entitled to receive the proportion of the annual allowance that the total of the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor while married to the contributor and the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor in a relationship of a conjugal nature bears to the total number of years that the contributor so cohabited with the survivors; and

  • (b) the survivor referred to in paragraph (b) of that definition is entitled to receive the proportion of the annual allowance that the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor in a relationship of a conjugal nature bears to the total number of years that the contributor cohabited with the survivors, either while married or while in a relationship of a conjugal nature.

• Marginal note:Years

  (9) In determining a number of years for the purposes of subsection (8), part of a year shall be counted as a full year if the part is six or more months and shall be ignored if it is less.

• Marginal note:Death, etc. of one of the survivors

  (10) When one of the survivors referred to in subsection (8) dies or is not entitled to receive a benefit under this Act when the contributor dies, the portion of the annual allowance that would have been payable to the survivor who died or is not entitled shall be paid to the remaining survivor in addition to his or her own portion.

30 [Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 136]

Marginal note:Marriage after sixty years of age

• 31 (1) Subject to section 25.1 but notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the survivor of a contributor is not entitled to an annual allowance in respect of the contributor under this Part if at the time the contributor married the survivor or began to cohabit with the survivor in a relationship of a conjugal nature, the contributor had attained the age of sixty years unless, after that time, the contributor became or continued to be a contributor.

• Marginal note:Child born after parent sixty years of age

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, except as provided in the regulations a child who was born to or adopted by a person or who became the stepchild of a person at a time when that person was over sixty years of age is not entitled to any annual allowance under this Act, unless, after that time, that person became or continued to be a contributor.

Marginal note:Death within one year after marriage

32 Notwithstanding anything in this Act, when a contributor dies within one year after marriage, no annual allowance is payable to the survivor of the contributor or the children of that marriage unless it is established to the satisfaction of the Minister that the contributor was at the time of the marriage in such a condition of health as to justify the contributor in having an expectation of surviving for at least one year after the marriage.

33 [Repealed, 1989, c. 6, s. 9]

Marginal note:Transitional

34 Notwithstanding anything in this Act, no person is entitled to an allowance under this Part by virtue of being the survivor of a female contributor if the contributor was not a member of the regular force on or after December 20, 1975, and section 3 does not apply in respect of this section.

Marginal note:Saving provision

35 Nothing in sections 31 to 34 shall be held to prejudice any right that a child of an earlier marriage of the contributor has to an allowance under section 25.

35.1 [Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 140]

36 [Repealed, 2003, c. 26, s. 19]

37 [Repealed, 2003, c. 26, s. 19]

Minimum Benefits

Marginal note:Minimum benefits

38 Where, on the death of a contributor who was not a member of the regular force on or after December 20, 1975, there is no person to whom an allowance provided in this Act may be paid, or where the persons to whom such allowance may be paid die or cease to be entitled thereto and no other amount may be paid to them under this Part, any amount by which the amount of a return of contributions exceeds the aggregate of all amounts paid to those persons and to the contributor under this Part and Part V of the former Act shall be paid, as a death benefit,

• (a) in the case of a contributor whose death occurred while he was a member of the regular force, to the service estate of the contributor; and

• (b) in any other case, to the estate of the contributor or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct.

Marginal note:Minimum benefits

39 Where, on the death of a contributor who was a member of the regular force on or after December 20, 1975, there is no person to whom an allowance provided in this Part may be paid, or where the persons to whom an allowance may be paid die or cease to be entitled thereto and no other amount may be paid to them under this Part, an amount equal to the amount by which

• (a) the greater of

  • (i) the amount of a return of contributions, and

  • (ii) an amount equal to five times the annuity to which the contributor was or would have been at the time of his death entitled determined in accordance with subsection 15(1),

exceeds

• (b) the aggregate of all amounts paid to those persons and to the contributor under this Part and Part V of the former Act

shall be paid, as a death benefit,

• (c) if the contributor named his estate as his beneficiary or named another beneficiary under Part II and the beneficiary survives the contributor, to the beneficiary,

• (d) if the contributor is not survived by a beneficiary so named and the death of the contributor occurred while he was a member of the regular force, to the service estate of the contributor, and

• (e) in any other case, to the estate of the contributor or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct.