Case In Point
SCC to Render Leave to Appeal Decision in Carrigan
Date: March 25, 2013
On March 28, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada will render its leave to appeal decision in Quinn v. Carrigan.
The majority of the Ontario Court of Appeal awarded the payment of the pre-retirement death benefit payable under an Ontario registered pension plan to a member’s designated beneficiaries rather than to his common law spouse (Ms Quinn), thereby marking a departure from the pension industry’s widely held interpretation of section 48 of the Pension Benefits Act.
We will be monitoring the leave to appeal decision and will provide you with a further update.
In the meantime, a discussion of the Court of Appeal decision is found in our FTR Now of November 7, 2012, “Ontario Court of Appeal Decision Rewrites the Pension Pre-Retirement Death Benefit Regime.” A discussion of the position of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario is found in our News Item of February 6, 2013, “Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate Update: Ontario Pension Regulator Supports Common-Law Spouse’s Appeal.”
