Rights of the surviving spouse or partner

Collecting life insurance payout

If your spouse or partner had life insurance and you were the beneficiary, you could be entitled to a payment from the insurer. To receive the money, you must submit a request to the insurance company.

Life insurance (Autorité des marchés financiers)

Resources are available to help you find out whether the deceased had life insurance.

Searching for insurance contracts? (Autorité des marchés financiers)

How to find if a life insurance policy exists for a deceased person (OmbudService for Life & Health Insurance (OLHI))

Receiving a surviving spouse’s pension

If your spouse or partner contributed to a public pension plan, such as the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) or the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), you could be entitled to a survivor’s pension.

The surviving spouse's pension under the Québec pension plan (Retraite Québec)

Survivor's pension (Government of Canada)

If your spouse or partner contributed to a supplemental pension plan, such as an employer pension plan, you could also be entitled to certain payments.

If your spouse or partner had a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) or a life income fund (LIF), you could be entitled to the amounts in these accounts.

How your pension plan protects your assets (Retraite Québec)

Special rules for de facto couples

If were in a de facto relationship with your partner, you could benefit from the protections above only if:

• You had been living together as a couple for at least three years.
• You had been living together as a couple for at least one year and had at least one child together.

Financial assistance from the government

If you are 60 to 64 years of age, you could also be entitled to the Allowance for the Survivor under the Old Age Security Pension.

Allowance for the Survivor (Government of Canada)

Inheriting money or property from your partner

Your spouse or partner could have left you property or money under a will. If this is the case, you could receive this property and money when the deceased’s assets are distributed. This step is officially called the “liquidation of the succession” but is more commonly referred to as “settling the succession.”

If your spouse or partner died without a will, their property and money will be distributed according to the law. These rules differ depending on whether you were married or living in a de facto relationship:

• De facto couples: You won’t inherit any property or money that belonged to your partner.
• Married couples: You inherit all or part of your spouse’s property. Your share depends on several things, for example, whether your spouse had children.

Dying Without a Will: Who Inherits? (Éducaloi)

Distribution of the inheritance in a legal succession (table) (Gouvernement du Québec)

A preliminary step if the deceased was married

Since death puts an end to marriage, the first step is to divide (“partition”) the property and money between the couple, which is similar to what’s done in the case of a divorce.

Once this is done, the remaining property and money can be distributed according to the wishes expressed by the deceased in the will. If the person died without a will, the property and money will be distributed according to the rules provided in the law.

Partitioning of the family patrimony and liquidation of the matrimonial or civil union regime (Gouvernement du Québec)