Case In Point
Significant Decision on Pre-Retirement Death Benefits Rendered by Ontario Court of Appeal
Date: November 7, 2012
On October 31, 2012, the majority of the Ontario Court of Appeal departed from the pension industry’s widely held interpretation of section 48 of the Pension Benefits Act when it awarded the pre-retirement death benefit payable under an Ontario registered pension plan to a member’s designated beneficiaries rather than to the member’s common law spouse.
This decision, Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate, is of critical importance to all administrators of pension plans with Ontario members. For a detailed discussion of the case, see our FTR Now of November 7, 2012 “Ontario Court of Appeal Decision Rewrites the Pension Pre-Retirement Death Benefit Regime.”
