Judges Act

Marginal note:Election for enhanced annuity to survivor

• 44.01 (1) Subject to the regulations, a judge may elect to have the annuity to be granted to his or her survivor increased so that it is calculated as if the reference to “one-half” in subsection 44(2) were read as a reference to “sixty per cent” or “seventy-five per cent”.

• Marginal note:Reduction of annuity

  (2) If a judge makes the election, the amount of the annuity granted to the judge shall be reduced in accordance with the regulations as of the date the election takes effect, but the combined actuarial present value of the reduced annuity and the annuity that would be granted to the survivor may not be less than the combined actuarial present value of the annuity granted to the judge and the annuity that would be granted to the survivor, immediately before the reduction is made.

• Marginal note:Election to take effect at time of retirement

  (3) Subject to subsection (6), an election under this section takes effect on the date that the judge ceases to hold office.

• Marginal note:Death within one year after election

  (4) Despite anything in this section, when a judge dies within one year after the election takes effect, the annuity payable to the survivor remains that payable under subsection 44(2) and the amount representing the reduction that was made in the amount of the judge’s annuity under subsection (2) shall be repaid to the judge’s estate or succession, together with interest at the rate prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister of National Revenue as refunds of overpayments of tax under that Act.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (5) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

  • (a) the time, manner and circumstances in which an election is made, is deemed to have been made or is deemed not to have been made, is revoked or is deemed to have been revoked, or ceases to have effect, and the retroactive application of that making, revocation or cessation;

  • (b) the reduction to be made in the amount of a judge’s annuity when the election is made;

  • (c) the calculation of the amount of the annuity to be paid to the judge and the survivor under subsection (2);

  • (d) the time, manner and circumstances in which a reduction of a judge’s annuity may be returned and interest may be paid; and

  • (e) any other matter that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this section.

• Marginal note:Transitional

  (6) A judge who is in receipt of an annuity on the day on which this section comes into force may make his or her election in accordance with the regulations, and the election takes effect on the day this section comes into force.

• Marginal note:Limitation on annuity to survivor

  (7) Despite anything in this section, no election may be made under this section for the benefit of a spouse or common-law partner of a judge unless that person was the spouse or common-law partner at the date the judge ceased to hold office.