Survivor benefits – Pension

Table of contents

• Who is Entitled to Survivor Benefits
• Benefits Payable
• Survivor Benefit
• Child Allowance
• Minimum Benefit
• Claiming Survivor Benefits
• Supplementary Death Benefit
  • Benefit Amount
  • Naming your Beneficiaries
  • Payment of the Supplementary Death Benefit
  • Cost
  • Retaining Supplementary Death Benefit Coverage
  • How to Make an Election to Continue Coverage
  • Reducing your Coverage
  • Cancelling your Coverage
  • Paying for Coverage After you Leave the Public Service

Who is Entitled to Survivor Benefits?

If you are married or have lived in a conjugal relationship (common-law spouse) your spouse may be entitled to a survivor benefit.

The claimant must have been married to you at the time of your death, or, if common-law, prove that he or she lived with you in a conjugal relationship for at least one year before your death. The relationship must have started before you left the public service and have continued up to the time of your death.

If you die within one year of marriage, no survivor benefit is payable unless there is satisfactory proof that your health at the time of marriage was such that you expected to survive for at least one year.

For your common-law survivor to receive benefits under the public service pension plan, he or she must be prepared to provide documented proof that a relationship of a conjugal nature actually existed. This proof normally takes the form of statutory declarations from disinterested persons who attest to the relationship, along with bills or receipts, mortgage papers, leases, joint bank accounts, credit accounts or any other relevant documents.

If you have both a legal spouse and another eligible survivor with whom you have lived in a conjugal relationship, the survivor’s benefit will be apportioned between them. Each survivor’s share of the benefit will be based on length of cohabitation with you.

If you marry after retirement, your survivor would not normally be entitled to benefits. However, you may elect, within one year of marrying or within one year of becoming entitled to payment of a deferred annuity or annual allowance, to provide your survivor with a benefit by taking a reduction in your own pension. This election must be made at least one year before your death.

Benefits Payable

If your death occurs before you have completed two years of pensionable service, your contributions with interest will be refunded to your eligible survivor or children, or to your beneficiaries if you have no eligible survivors.

If you have at least two years of pensionable service, your eligible survivor will be entitled to a survivor benefit and your eligible children to a child allowance. In addition, the Supplementary Death Benefit will be payable as a lump-sum to your designated beneficiaries. If you haven’t designated beneficiaries, the death benefit will be payable to your estate.

If you don’t have an eligible survivor or children, or if your eligible survivor and children die shortly after you, your Supplementary Death Benefit beneficiaries will each receive an equal amount equivalent to the greater of:

• the return of your contributions with interest, less any payments already received or
• 5 years of basic pension payments, less any payments already received.

Survivor Benefit

In the event of your death, your eligible survivor will be entitled to a monthly allowance equal to half of the pension benefit you would have received before age 65 (calculated before any applicable reduction).

The survivor benefit is payable immediately, regardless of whether you die during employment or retirement. It is fully indexed on an annual basis for the rest of your survivor’s life. For information on indexation, please refer to the Protection from Inflation section.

If you marry after retirement, you have the option of requesting a survivor benefit for your new eligible spouse. Your pension will be reduced accordingly.

Your survivor can receive benefits under the Canada Pension Plan (CPP)/Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) and also receive a full survivor benefit under the public service pension plan.

Your survivor can waive entitlement to a survivor benefit if doing so results in payment of a minimum benefit or a double-rate child allowance. The deadline for waiver of entitlement is three months from the date of notice of entitlement.

Child Allowance

In the event of your death, each child will be entitled to a monthly allowance equal to 10% of the pension benefit you would have received before age 65 (calculated before any applicable reduction) or 20% if you have no eligible survivor. The child allowance is payable until he/she reaches age 18 (age 25, if the child is a student and meets the eligibility criteria of a child).

The maximum allowance for all children combined is the equivalent of four children’s benefits (40% of your unreduced pension, or 80% if there are dependant children but no spouse eligible for a survivor benefit). If there are more than four eligible children, the maximum combined amount is divided equally among the children.

The child allowance is payable immediately, regardless of whether you die during employment or retirement. Normally it is paid to the survivor. If the children are not living with the survivor, the children’s allowance is paid to the person responsible for their custody. Allowances for children over 18 are normally paid directly to them.

The child allowance is fully indexed on an annual basis. For more information, please refer to the Protection from Inflation section.

Minimum Benefit

You, your eligible survivor and children, or your estate cannot receive, in total, less than the amount of your public service pension plan contributions over the years.

Circumstances where a minimum benefit is paid and how it is calculated are as follows:

• If you had at least two years of pensionable service and if, at the time of death or later, no further benefits are payable to any survivor, the beneficiaries of the Supplementary Death Benefit will each receive an equal amount equivalent to the greater of:
  • a return of your contributions plus interest; less whatever has already been paid (excluding indexing benefits) or
  • five years of basic pension payments, less than whatever has already been paid (excluding indexing benefits).
• If you have not named beneficiaries, the beneficiaries do not survive you, or you did not participate in the Supplementary Death Benefit, the amount is payable to your estate.
• If the benefit amount is less than $1,000, it will be paid to a person or persons designated by the President of the Treasury Board.

Claiming Survivor Benefits

Claimants must provide proof of age for themselves and their eligible children, and any certificates or other information they think would help clarify their entitlement to a survivor benefit. Claimants may submit this information to the Pension Centre confidentially if they wish.

The determination of benefits may be delayed if the Pension Centre does not have the necessary documents on age and survivor status.

Supplementary Death Benefit

The Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) is similar to a decreasing term life insurance. This benefit applies to almost all public service employees who contribute to the public service pension plan. The SDB replaced Civil Service Insurance policies.