Canada Pension Plan

Marginal note:Application for division

• 55 (1) Subject to this section, subsections 55.2(2), (3) and (4) and section 55.3, an application for a division of the unadjusted pensionable earnings of former spouses may be made in writing to the Minister by or on behalf of either former spouse, by the estate of either former spouse or by such person as may be prescribed, within thirty-six months or, where both former spouses agree in writing, at any time after the date of a decree absolute of divorce, of a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or of a judgment of nullity of the marriage, granted or rendered on or after January 1, 1978 and before January 1, 1987.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c), the former spouses must have cohabited for at least thirty-six consecutive months during the marriage before an application made under subsection (1) may be approved by the Minister;

  • (b) the marriage shall be deemed to have been solemnized or nullified or a divorce deemed to have been made final on the last day of the year preceding the registered date of the marriage or the judgment of nullity or the effective date of a decree absolute of the divorce or of a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act; and

  • (c) the former spouses shall be deemed to have cohabited throughout the year in which the marriage was solemnized, and shall be deemed not to have cohabited at any time during the year of divorce or of annulment of the marriage.

• Marginal note:Period of cohabitation

  (3) In determining the period for which the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the former spouses shall be divided, only those months during which the former spouses cohabited during the marriage shall be considered and, for the purposes of this section, months during which former spouses cohabited shall be determined in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Division of unadjusted pensionable earnings

  (4) On approval by the Minister of an application referred to in subsection (1), the unadjusted pensionable earnings for each former spouse for the period of cohabitation attributable to contributions made under this Act, determined in the same manner as the total pensionable earnings attributable to contributions made under this Act are determined in section 78, shall be added and then divided equally and the unadjusted pensionable earnings so divided shall be attributed to each former spouse.

• Marginal note:On division unadjusted pensionable earnings under this Act

  (5) Where there is a division under subsection (4) and under a provincial pension plan, for the purposes of benefit calculation and payment under this Act, the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of a contributor for a year of division shall be the aggregate of his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under subsection (4) and his unadjusted pensionable earnings attributed under a provincial pension plan.

• Marginal note:No division

  (6) No division of unadjusted pensionable earnings for a period of cohabitation shall be made

  • (a) where the total unadjusted pensionable earnings of the former spouses in a year does not exceed twice the Year’s Basic Exemption;

  • (b) for the period before which one of the former spouses reached eighteen years of age or after which a former spouse reached seventy years of age;

  • (c) for the period in which one of the former spouses was a beneficiary of a retirement pension under this Act or under a provincial pension plan; and

  • (d) for any month that is excluded from the contributory period of one of the former spouses under this Act or a provincial pension plan by reason of disability.

• Marginal note:Benefits in pay

  (7) Where an application referred to in subsection (1) has been approved and a benefit is payable under this Act to or in respect of either of the former spouses for any month commencing on or before the day of receipt of an application under subsection (1), the basic amount of the benefit shall be calculated and adjusted in accordance with section 45 but subject to the division of unadjusted pensionable earnings made under this section and the adjusted benefit shall be paid effective the month following the month the application referred to in subsection (1) is received.

• Marginal note:Notification of division

  (8) On approval by the Minister of an application for division of unadjusted pensionable earnings, an applicant and the former spouse or the former spouse’s estate shall be notified in a manner prescribed by regulation and, where the applicant or the former spouse or the former spouse’s estate is dissatisfied with the division or the result thereof, the right of appeal as set out in this Part applies.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (9) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing the time, manner and form of making applications for division of unadjusted pensionable earnings or withdrawal of applications for that division, the procedures to be followed in dealing with and approving those applications and the information and evidence to be furnished in connection therewith.