Cancel Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits after a death

On this page

• Benefits must be cancelled after a death
• How to cancel benefits
• Returning benefit payments

Benefits must be cancelled after a death

When an Old Age Security (OAS) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) beneficiary dies, their benefits must be cancelled. Benefits are payable for the month in which the death occurs; benefits received after that will have to be repaid. This includes the following benefits:

• OAS pension, including:
  • Guaranteed Income Supplement
  • Allowance
  • Allowance for the Survivor
• CPP retirement pension
• CPP disability benefits
• CPP children's benefits
• CPP survivor benefits

How to cancel benefits

Please notify us of the date of death of the beneficiary as soon as possible.

You can notify Service Canada:

If the death occurred outside Canada

Service Canada requires proof of the beneficiary's date of death to cancel OAS and CPP benefits.

The following are common documents that will be accepted as proof of the date of death:

• official death certificate issued under the authority of some level of government (domestic or foreign) where the death occurred
• a document issued by a level of domestic or foreign government (federal, provincial, state, territorial, municipal, etc.) indicating the date of death (for example, Japanese Family Register, Portuguese Cédula Pessoal, etc.)
• funeral home burial or death certificate issued:
  • in accordance with the custom of any religious denomination by an ordained religious leader; or
  • by the funeral director; or
  • by any person who is authorized to issue such documents through the funeral home (this may vary from province to province)
• medical certificate of death issued by the attending doctor or coroner
• statement by a doctor last in attendance, a coroner or a funeral director using stationery with the appropriate identifying letterhead
• registration of death under a provincial or territorial authority
• certification of death by social security authorities in another country where an international agreement on social security exists with that country
• memorandum of Notification of Death issued by the Chief of National Defence Staff, Department of National Defence Canada, where the death of a member of the Canadian Forces occurs outside Canada
• statement of Verification of Death from the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada written on the letterhead of the Department
• official notification from the Administrator of the Estate appointed by a court
• certified (by notary public) copy of the Letters of Probate
• life or group insurance claim provided it includes a statement signed by a medical doctor
• an official notification written on the letterhead of a Provincial Public Trustee or Administrator of Estates

To be acceptable as a proof of death, a document must:

• be an original or certified copy
• be on official letterhead or contain a seal
• be dated, readable and not altered
• contain the following information:
  • the name of the deceased individual
  • the date and place of death
  • the name and signature of a person authorized to issue the document

Please contact us if you need to verify that a document is acceptable as proof of the date of death.

Returning benefit payments

The estate is entitled to the beneficiary's OAS and CPP payments for the month of death. All payments issued after the month of death must be returned. If the payments have been redeemed, they must be repaid.

Related links

• Death benefit
• Retraite Québec
• Payment calendar
• My Service Canada Account
• Notify the federal government of a death