Federally regulated pension plans are regulated by OSFI (the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of Canada), unlike Ontario regulated pension plans which are regulated by FSRA (the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario). If you are unsure of who regulates your pension plan, you can visit the FSRA website or the OSFI website and use their pension plan look-up tool to find your pension plan.
Some federally regulated pension plans are providing the Ontario family law value and some are not. This is because these plans are governed by the Federal Pension Benefits Standards Act and not the Ontario Pension Benefits Act, which is where the new valuation rules are specified. The Federal Pension Benefits Standards Act has its own rules for the division of pensions on marriage breakdown, which are different from the new rules specified in the Ontario law.
Generally speaking, the Federal Pension Benefits Standards Act permits up to 100% of the commuted value of a member’s pension benefits assuming termination of membership to be paid to the non-member spouse.
Members of federal regulated pension plans will need to confirm with their plan administrator whether or not they will be providing the Ontario family law value of the pension in accordance with the Ontario Pension Benefits Act. If the administrator does not provide the Ontario family law value, an independent actuary will need to be retained to determine the Ontario family law value for property equalization.
If your plan administrator is providing the Ontario family law value, please click here for more information.
We can provide the valuation of a member’s pension benefits in accordance with family law in Ontario, click here for information on requesting a pension valuation.