13 August 2014
Separation agreement ineffective waiver of entitlement to pension plan survivor benefits
The BC Court of Appeal recently dealt with the legal nature of survivor pension benefits and how they may be effectively waived in a separation agreement between spouses in Tarr Estate v. Tarr, 2014 BCCA 315. In this case, the court concluded that, after a pension has commenced, to effect a valid waiver of a survivorship interest the waiver must be in the prescribed form P5 found under the Division of Pension Regulations.