Old Age Security Act

Marginal note:Payment of allowance

• 19 (1) Subject to this Act and the regulations, an allowance may be paid to the spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner of a pensioner for a month in a payment period if the spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner, as the case may be,

  • (a) in the case of a spouse, is not separated from the pensioner, or has separated from the pensioner where the separation commenced after June 30, 1999 and not more than three months before the month in the payment period;

  • (a.1) in the case of a former common-law partner, has separated from the pensioner where the separation commenced after June 30, 1999 and not more than three months before the month in the payment period;

  • (b) in the case of a spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner, has attained sixty years of age but has not attained sixty-five years of age; and

  • (c) in the case of a spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner, has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age and prior to the day on which their application is approved for an aggregate period of at least ten years and, where that aggregate period is less than twenty years, was resident in Canada on the day preceding the day on which their application is approved.

• Marginal note:Incarcerated common-law partner

  (1.1) For the purposes of subsection (1), common-law partners do not become former common-law partners if the sole reason for their separation is that one of the partners is an incarcerated person described in subsection 5(3) or paragraph 19(6)(f).

• Marginal note:Incarcerated spouse

  (1.2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a spouse is not considered to be separated from the pensioner if the sole reason for the separation is that the pensioner is an incarcerated person described in subsection 5(3).

• Marginal note:Residence in Canada must be or have been legal

  (2) A person is eligible for an allowance under this section only if

  • (a) on the day preceding the day on which that person’s application for an allowance is approved that person is a Canadian citizen or, if not, is legally resident in Canada; or

  • (b) on the day preceding the day that person ceased to reside in Canada that person was a Canadian citizen or, if not, was legally resident in Canada.

• Marginal note:Regulations respecting legal residence

  (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the meaning of legal residence for the purposes of subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Must apply annually

  (4) Subject to subsection (4.1), no allowance may be paid under this section to the spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner in any payment period unless a joint application of the pensioner and the spouse or common-law partner, or an application described in section 30, has been made for payment of an allowance in respect of that payment period and payment of the allowance has been approved under this Part.

• Marginal note:Treated as joint application

  (4.01) If the pensioner is an incarcerated person described in subsection 5(3), their spouse or common-law partner may apply for an allowance individually and, for the purposes of subsection (4), that application shall be considered and dealt with as though it were a joint application of the pensioner and the spouse or common-law partner.

• Marginal note:Waiver of application

  (4.1) The Minister may waive the requirement referred to in subsection (4) for an application for payment of an allowance for any month or months in a payment period if an application for payment of an allowance has been made in respect of any payment period before that payment period.

• Marginal note:Notice where subsequent application required

  (4.2) Where the requirement for an application for any month or months in a payment period has been waived under subsection (4.1) and an application is required for payment of an allowance for any subsequent month or months in that payment period, the Minister shall, not later than fifteen days before that subsequent month or the first of those subsequent months, notify the spouse or common-law partner in writing that an application is required.

• Marginal note:Cancellation of waiver

  (4.3) Notwithstanding that the requirement for an application for any month or months has been waived under subsection (4.1), the Minister may require that an application referred to in subsection (4) be made for payment of an allowance for that month or for any of those months, and in such a case, the Minister shall, not later than fifteen days before that month or the first of those months, notify the spouse or common-law partner in writing that an application is required.

• Marginal note:Cessation of allowance

  (5) An allowance under this section ceases to be payable on the expiration of the month in which the spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner in respect of whom it is paid dies, becomes the spouse or common-law partner of another person, or no longer meets the conditions set out in subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Limitations

  (6) No allowance may be paid under this section to the spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner pursuant to an application therefor for

  • (a) any month that is more than 11 months before the month in which the application is received or is deemed to have been made or in which the requirement for an application has been waived, as the case may be;

  • (b) any month for which no supplement may be paid to the pensioner;

  • (c) any month throughout which the spouse or common-law partner is absent from Canada, having left Canada either before or after becoming entitled to an allowance under this Part and having remained outside Canada before that month for six consecutive months, exclusive of the month in which he left Canada;

  • (d) any month during which the spouse or common-law partner is

    • (i) a specially qualified individual, and

    • (ii) a person in respect of whom an undertaking by a sponsor is in effect as provided under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;

  • (e) in the case of a common-law partner who was not a spouse immediately before the coming into force of this paragraph (“spouse” having in this paragraph the meaning that it had immediately before that coming into force), notwithstanding subsection 23(2), any month before the month in which this paragraph comes into force; or

  • (f) any period of incarceration — exclusive of the first month of that period — during which the spouse or common-law partner is subject to a sentence of imprisonment

    • (i) that is to be served in a penitentiary by virtue of any Act of Parliament, or

    • (ii) that exceeds 90 days and is to be served in a prison, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Prisons and Reformatories Act, if the government of the province in which the prison is located has entered into an agreement under section 41 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act.

• Marginal note:Application of par. (6)(b)

  (6.1) Paragraph (6)(b) does not apply to a spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner in respect of a month for which a supplement would be payable to the pensioner if

  • (a) the special qualifying factor of that pensioner for that month were equal to one; or

  • (b) the pensioner were not precluded from receiving a supplement by virtue of the application of subsection 5(3).

• Marginal note:Application of para. (6)(d)

  (6.2) Paragraph (6)(d) does not apply to a spouse or common-law partner where an event as provided by the regulations has occurred.

• Marginal note:Resumption of allowance

  (6.3) Payment of an allowance that is suspended by virtue of paragraph (6)(f) shall resume in respect of the month in which the spouse or common-law partner is released but only if they

  • (a) have notified the Minister in writing before or after their release; and

  • (b) continue to be eligible for an allowance.

• Marginal note:Amount of allowance to spouse or common-law partner of pensioner

  (7) The amount of the allowance that may be paid under this section to the spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner shall be determined in accordance with subsection 22(3).

• Marginal note:Direction by Minister if spouses or common-law partners living apart

  (8) If an application has been made under subsection (4) for payment of an allowance to a pensioner’s spouse or common-law partner in respect of any payment period, the Minister may, after any investigation of the circumstances that he or she considers necessary, direct that for the purpose of calculating the allowance, the monthly joint income, as defined in subsection 22(1), be determined without taking into account the pensioner’s income for the base calendar year in any case where the Minister is satisfied that the spouse or common-law partner, as a result of circumstances not attributable to the pensioner or the spouse or common-law partner, was not living with the pensioner in a dwelling maintained by one or the other of them at the time the application was made.

• Marginal note:Continuing direction

  (9) A direction made under subsection (8) in respect of a payment period is deemed to be a direction made in respect of every subsequent payment period, but the Minister may, after any investigation of the circumstances that he or she considers necessary, cancel the direction.