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Partition of benefits in a supplemental pension plan

This section was designed for professionals, such as family mediators and lawyers, who advise spouses in the event of a conjugal breakdown. It presents the main rules of partition under the Supplemental Pension Plans Act.


Reminder regarding partition

Married and de facto (common law) spouses who separate can have partition carried out on benefits accumulated in their pension plans.

Pension plans are part of the family patrimony 

Plans are a major assets and an important element in retirement planning. Former spouses should take them into account when having partition carried out on assets accumulated during the union.


Partition consists of transferring a share of the value of benefits that the plan member accumulated in the pension plan and not part of the pension that he or she has accumulated, even if the member is retired.

To make decisions about partition of a plan, it is essential to know how much the accumulated benefits were worth at the time of the conjugal breakdown. Observing certain conditions, the plan administrator can provide spouses with a statement of benefits that indicates the value.


Step 1: Valuating benefits

A section to gain a good understanding of the importance of a statement of benefits for the purposes of partition, to find out how to obtain a statement of benefits and the technique for valuating benefits (based on the type of plan).


Step 2: the partition process

A complete section on the partition process, the application for partition, the amount transferred to a former spouse and adjusting a member's benefits after partition.

 

Important!

This section is only pertinent to plans in which a member's benefits are subject to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act, that is:

  • defined contribution plans and simplified pension plans
  • defined benefit plans

 

Pension plans are also called "supplemental pension plans", "pension funds", "private pension plans" or "registered pension plans" (term used by federal government agencies).


A worker's benefits in a pension plan are subject to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act if that worker has a job in Québec under provincial jurisdiction in the private or municipal sector. Some worker's benefits in the parapublic sector are also subject to the same act.

The place where a plan member works, specifically where he or she worked when accumulating plan benefits, determines whether or not Québec law applies. This is the case if a person works in Québec even if the pension plan is administered outside the province or registered with a monitoring agency outside Québec.


Plans not subject to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act

  • The Québec Pension Plan
  • The Canada Pension Plan
  • Plans in the public and parapublic sectors in Québec administered by the Commission administrative des régimes de retraite et d'assurances (CARRA). Rules of partition for those plans are outlined in a booklet entitled Partition of family patrimony, available from the CARRA.
    • These plans are for employees in the Québec public service, in the health and educational sector, employees of the Sûreté du Québec, peace officers, elected municipal officials, judges in the Court of Québec, etc.
  • Plans in the private and public sector that are under federal jurisdiction (banks, interprovincial transport and telecommunications businesses, federal public service, etc.)
  • Group or individual RRSPs.

 

If you are a pension plan administrator, we invite you to consult the section entitled Partition of benefits, which is designed especially for you. Professionals who would like greater detail on the rules of partition can also consult it. 



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