If there is no bankruptcy
Except under certain conditions, the benefits accrued under a pension plan subject to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act are unseizable. They cannot be given as security. The amounts that come from such a plan are also unseizable. The amounts can be, for example :
- those paid in the form of a benefit or refund
- those transferred into an annuity contract, a locked-in retirement account (LIRA), a life income fund (LIF), a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), or a registered retirement income fund (RRIF)
Exceptions :
- Benefits accrued under a plan subject to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act, or amounts that come from such a plan can be seized for :
- the payment of a support debt (maximum 50 %)
- partition of family patrimony
- the payment of a compensatory allowance
- Additional voluntary contributions, as well as amounts from a not locked-in account under a simplified pension plan (SIPP), become seizable when they are no longer in the plan, for example, when they have been transferred to an RRSP.
- When a plan is terminated, any surplus assets transferred to a member, a beneficiary or the employer are seizable.
- Benefits accrued under a plan referred to in
section 2.1 of the Supplemental Pension Plans Act (plans for major shareholders that are not registered with
Retraite Québec) become seizable when they are no longer in the plan.
In the case of bankruptcy
In the case of bankruptcy, all pension plans are exempt from seizure. The same is true for RRSPs, RRIFs,
LIRAs and LIFs.
Exception : for RRSPs, RRIFs,
LIRAs and
LIFs that would have been seizable if not for the bankruptcy (for example, an
RRSP in which the amounts coming from the not locked-in SIPP account were transferred), the amounts paid into them in the 12 months preceding the bankruptcy are seizable.