Canada Pension Plan

Marginal note:When mandatory division to take place

• 55.1 (1) Subject to this section and sections 55.2 and 55.3, a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings shall take place in the following circumstances:

  • (a) in the case of spouses, following the issuance of a decree absolute of divorce, a judgment granting a divorce under the Divorce Act or a judgment of nullity of the marriage, on the Minister’s being informed of the decree or judgment, as the case may be, and receiving the prescribed information;

  • (b) in the case of spouses, following the approval by the Minister of an application made by or on behalf of either spouse, by the estate of either spouse or by any person that may be prescribed, if

    • (i) the spouses have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, and

    • (ii) in the event of the death of one of the spouses after they have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, the application is made within three years after the death; and

  • (c) in the case of common-law partners, following the approval by the Minister of an application made by or on behalf of either former common-law partner, by the estate of one of those former common-law partners or by any person that may be prescribed, if

    • (i) the former common-law partners have been living separate and apart for a period of one year or more, or

    • (ii) one of the former common-law partners has died during that period,

    and the application is made within four years after the day on which the former common-law partners commenced to live separate and apart.

• Marginal note:Calculation of period of separation

  (2) For the purposes of this section,

  • (a) persons subject to a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings shall be deemed to have lived separate and apart for any period during which they lived apart and either of them had the intention to live separate and apart from the other; and

  • (b) a period during which persons subject to such a division have lived separate and apart shall not be considered to have been interrupted or terminated

    • (i) by reason only that either person has become incapable of forming or having an intention to continue to live separate and apart or of continuing to live separate and apart of the person’s own volition, if it appears to the Minister that the separation would probably have continued if the person had not become so incapable, or

    • (ii) by reason only that the two persons have resumed cohabitation during a period of, or periods totalling, not more than ninety days with reconciliation as its primary purpose.

• Marginal note:Period of cohabitation

  (3) For the purposes of this section, persons subject to a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings must have cohabited for a continuous period of at least one year in order for the division to take place, and, for the purposes of this subsection, a continuous period of at least one year shall be determined in a manner prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Period for purposes of division

  (4) In determining the period for which the unadjusted pensionable earnings of the persons subject to a division shall be divided, only those months during which the two persons cohabited shall be considered, and, for the purposes of this subsection, months during which the two persons cohabited shall be determined in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Minister’s discretion

  (5) Before a division of unadjusted pensionable earnings is made under this section, or within the prescribed period after such a division is made, the Minister may refuse to make the division or may cancel the division, as the case may be, if the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) benefits are payable to or in respect of both persons subject to the division; and

  • (b) the amount of both benefits decreased at the time the division was made or would decrease at the time the division was proposed to be made.