Part 4 — Designation of Beneficiaries Under Plans
71 Designation of person to receive a benefit under a plan
(a) "annuity" includes an amount payable on a periodic basis,
whether payable at intervals longer or shorter than a year;
(b) "beneficiary", except in subsection (17), means a person
designated under subsection (2);
(c) "participant" means an individual who is entitled to
designate a person to receive a benefit payable under a plan
on the individual's death;
(d) "plan" means
(i) a pension, retirement, wel fare or profit-sharing fund,
trust, scheme, contract or arrangement for the benefit of
employees, former employees, agents or former agents
of an employer or their dependants or beneficiaries,
whether created by or pursuant to a statute or otherwise,
(ii) a fund, trust, scheme, con tract or arrangement for the
payment of an annuity for life or for a fixed or variable
term or under which money is paid for the purpose of
providing, on the happening of a specified event, for the
purchase of, or the payment of, an annuity for life or for
a fixed or variable term, whether created before or after
this section comes into force,
(iii) a registered retirement savings plan or registered
retirement income fund as defined in the Income Tax Act
(Canada),
(iv) a TFSA within the meaning of section 146.2 of the
Income Tax Act (Canada), or
(v) a fund, trust, scheme, contr act or arrangement prescribed
in the regulations.
(2) A beneficiary designation may be made in accordance with
subsection (2.1) or (2.2).
(2.1) A participant may designate a person to receive a benefit
payable under a plan on the participant's death
(a) by an instrument signed by the participant or signed by
another individual on the participant's behalf, at the
participant's direction and in the participant's presence, or
(b) by will,
and may revoke the designation by one of those methods.
(2.11) A designation by instrument under subsection (2.1)(a) may
be made electronically in accordance with the Electronic
Transactions Act.
(2.2) Subject to subsection (2.3), a new designation of the same
beneficiary may be made, other than by will, by one of the
following representatives of a participant:
(a) an attorney acting under an enduring power of attorney
under the Powers of Attorney Act;
(b) the Public Trustee acting as trustee of an incapacitated
person under the Public Trustee Act;
(c) the Public Trustee acting as trustee of a represented adult
under the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act and
subject to the Public Trustee Act;
(d) a person acting as trustee fo r a represented adult under the
Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act.
(2.3) Subsection (2.2) applies only if the designation renews,
replaces or converts a similar instrument made by the participant.
(2.4) Subsection (2.2) applies notwithstanding section 85(2) of the
Adult Guardianship and Trustee Act and section 25(3) of the
Public Trustee Act.
(3) A designation under subsection (2.1) that relates to a plan
referred to in subsection (1)(d)(iii) has effect whether it is made, or
the participant making it dies, before or after subsection (1)(d)(iii)
comes into force.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply if its application would
(a) alter the result in any proceedings in which a judgment or
final order was granted before February 1, 2012, regardless
of whether the judgment or order is appealable, or
(b) impose on a person the ob ligation to repay or account for
proceeds of a plan referred to in subsection (1)(d)(iii)
received or paid out by that person before February 1, 2012.
(5) A designation in a will is effective only if it refers to the plan
either generally or specifically.
(6) A revocation in a will of a designation made by an instrument
is effective to revoke the designation made by the instrument only
if the revocation refers to the plan either generally or specifically.
(7) Despite Part 2, a later designation revokes an earlier
designation to the extent of any inconsistency.
(8) Revocation of a will is effective to revoke a designation in the
will.
(9) A designation or revocation contained in an instrument
purporting to be a will is not invalid by reason only of the fact that
the instrument is invalid as a will.
(10) A designation in an instrument that purports to be but is not a
valid will is revoked by an event that would have the effect of
revoking the instrument if it had been a valid will.
(11) Revocation of a designation does not revive an earlier
designation.
(12) Despite Part 2, a designation or revocation in a will is
effective from the time when the will is signed.
(13) After the death of a participant who has made a designation
that is in effect at the time of the participant's death, the beneficiary
may enforce payment of the benefit payable under the plan to the
beneficiary, but the person against whom the payment is sought to
be enforced may set up any defence that the person could have set
up against the participant or the participant's personal
representative.
(14) If this section is inconsistent with a plan, this section applies
unless
(a) the inconsistency relates to a designation made or propose d
to be made after the making of a benefit payment, and
(b) the benefit payment so made would have been different if
the designation had been made before the benefit payment
was made,
in which case the plan applies.
(15) If a plan requires or permits a designation or revocation of it
to be filed with a specified person or body and any benefit is paid
under the plan to a beneficiary on the basis of the latest designation
so filed, the payment is deemed to be validly made, as against the
person required by the plan to make the payment, despite that
(a) a later designation or rev ocation of a designation is filed
under the plan after the payment was made, or
(b) the person or body is notified, after the payment was made ,
of an event that had the effect of revoking a designation so
filed.
(16) If a plan requires or permits a designation or a revocation of it
to be filed with a specified person or body, then, in the case of a
designation or revocation made by a will, the filing of a copy of the
will with that person or body, authenticated in the manner, if any,
required by the plan, is sufficient compliance with the requirement
under the plan.
(17) This section does not apply to a contract or to a designation of
a beneficiary to which the Insurance Act applies.
(18) The Crown is bound by this section.
(19) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations
prescribing funds, trusts, schemes, contracts and arrangements as
plans for the purposes of this section.
2010 cW-12.2 s71;2014 c13 s13;2020 c25 s19;2020 c39 s14