Veterans Insurance Act (R.S.C. 1970, c. V-3)

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Veterans Insurance Act.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act

  amount of insurance

  amount of insurance means the amount stated as such in the contract of insurance; (montant de l’assurance)

  brother

  brother includes a half-brother and sister includes a half-sister; (frère et soeur)

  child

  child includes

  • (a) a legally adopted child,

  • (b) a stepchild who is designated by the insured as a beneficiary and in such designation is described either by name or as a stepchild, and

  • (c) a child acknowledged or maintained by the insured or for whom the insured has been judicially ordered to provide support; (enfant)

  common-law partner

  common-law partner, in relation to an individual, means a person who is cohabiting with the individual in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year; (conjoint de fait)

  discharge from service

  discharge from service includes any termination of service; (libération du service)

  grandchild

  grandchild includes a child as above defined of a child as above defined; (petit-fils ou petite-fille)

  insured

  insured means any person with whom the Minister enters into a contract of insurance under this Act; (assuré ou personne assurée)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Veterans Affairs or such other Minister as the Governor in Council may from time to time determine; (Ministre)

  parent

  parent includes a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, foster-father, foster-mother, of either the insured or the spouse or common-law partner of the insured; (parent)

  service

  service means

  • (a) service in the naval, army or air forces of Canada by any person while in receipt of either active service rates of pay or of Permanent Force rates of pay, or

  • (b) active service in the naval, army or air forces of His Majesty by any person domiciled in Canada at the commencement thereof; (service)

  veteran

  veteran means any person, male or female, who was engaged in service during the war and who has been granted discharge from such service; (ancien combattant)

  war

  war means the war that commenced in September 1939, and which, for the purposes of this Act, shall be deemed to have terminated on the 30th day of September 1947. (guerre)

• Marginal note:Newfoundland veterans

  (2) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition service in subsection (1), service by a person in the naval or army forces of Newfoundland and service by a person recruited in Newfoundland in any naval, army or air forces raised in Newfoundland by or on behalf of the United Kingdom, shall be deemed to be service in the naval, army or air forces of Canada and, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of that definition, domicile in Newfoundland shall be deemed to be domicile in Canada.

Marginal note:Eligible persons and amount of contract

• 3 (1) The Minister may, without requiring medical examination or other evidence of insurability, enter into a contract of insurance that provides for the payment in the event of the death of the insured of five hundred dollars or any multiple thereof not exceeding ten thousand dollars,

  • (a) with a veteran, on or before the 31st day of October 1968, or

  • (b) with any of the following persons, on or before the 31st day of October 1968,

    • (i) the widow or widower of a veteran, if the Minister has not entered into a contract of insurance with the veteran,

    • (ii) the widow or widower of a person who died in service during the war,

    • (iii) a member of the regular force who has not been released from such force and who was engaged in service during the war,

    • (iv) a merchant seaman who received or was eligible to receive a bonus pursuant to The Merchant Seamen Special Bonus Order, or a seaman who received or was eligible to receive a War Service Bonus pursuant to The Merchant Seamen War Service Bonus Order, 1944, and

    • (v) any other person who is, under the Pension Act, in receipt of a disability pension relating to the war.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Where a contract of insurance is entered into under this Act with a person whose life is insured under The Returned Soldiers’ Insurance Act, the amount of insurance under such contract shall be limited so that the aggregate amount of insurance in force on his life under The Returned Soldiers’ Insurance Act and this Act does not exceed ten thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Mode of payment

  (3) Payment under a contract of insurance shall be made on the death of the insured in an amount that, at the option of the insured, is the full amount of insurance or any lesser amount, and the remainder, if any, or the portion thereof to which any beneficiary is entitled shall, at the option of the insured, be payable as

  • (a) an annuity certain for five, ten, fifteen or twenty years;

  • (b) a life annuity; or

  • (c) an annuity guaranteed for five, ten, fifteen or twenty years and payable thereafter as long as the beneficiary may live.

• Marginal note:Variation by insured

  (4) Any option as to the mode of payment chosen by the insured in his application for insurance may subsequently be varied by declaration of the insured.

• Marginal note:Variation by beneficiary

  (5) The option as to mode of payment chosen by the insured may after the death of the insured be varied by the beneficiary with the consent of the Minister.

• Marginal note:Payment of annuity in a lump sum or otherwise

  (6) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, where, at the death of the insured, any insurance money is being paid or is to be paid as an annuity to any beneficiary, such money shall, upon the request of the beneficiary, be paid in a lump sum or in any other manner provided for in subsection (3) as the beneficiary may request.

4 [Repealed, 1974-75-76, c. 92, s. 3]

Marginal note:Disability, waiver of premiums

• 5 (1) The contract may provide that if, before attaining the age of sixty years, the insured becomes totally and permanently disabled so that he is thereby rendered incapable of pursuing continuously any substantially gainful occupation, and if such disability is not deemed to be attributable to his service to such an extent as to entitle him to pension on the grounds of total disability under the Pension Act, the premiums thereafter falling due under the contract, during the continuance of such disability, shall be waived.

• Marginal note:Presumption of disablement

  (2) The insured shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be totally and permanently disabled where his total disability has existed continuously for a period of at least one year.

Marginal note:Who are the beneficiaries

• 6 (1) Where the insured has a spouse, common-law partner or children, the beneficiary is, subject to subsections (4) and (5), the spouse, common-law partner or children of the insured, or some one or more of such persons.

• Marginal note:Who are the beneficiaries

  (2) Where the insured has no spouse, common-law partner or children, the beneficiary is, subject to subsections (4) and (5) and section 7, the future spouse, future common-law partner or future children of the insured, or some one or more of such persons.

• Marginal note:Apportionment of insurance money

  (3) Where the insured designates more than one beneficiary, the insured may apportion, and may at any time re-apportion, the insurance money between or among them as he sees fit, and in default of any such apportionment the insurance money shall be paid to the designated beneficiaries surviving the insured in equal shares.

• Marginal note:Right to new designation

  (4) Where a designated beneficiary dies in the lifetime of the insured, the insured may, subject to subsections (1) and (2), designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries to whom the share formerly apportioned to the deceased beneficiary shall be paid, and in default of any such designation, the said share shall be divided equally among the surviving designated beneficiaries, if any.

• Marginal note:If no designated beneficiary

  (5) Where the insured does not designate a beneficiary, or where all of the beneficiaries designated by the insured die within the insured’s lifetime, the insurance money shall be paid to the spouse, the common-law partner and the children of the insured in equal shares, and if the insured survives the spouse, the common-law partner and all the children of the insured, and there is no contingent beneficiary within the meaning of section 7 surviving the insured, the insurance money shall be paid, as it falls due or otherwise as the Minister may determine, to the estate or succession of the insured.

• (6) and (7) [Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 304]

Marginal note:Designation of contingent beneficiaries

• 7 (1) The insured may designate as a contingent beneficiary a grandchild, parent, brother, or sister of the insured, or such other person as may by regulation be prescribed for the purposes of this section, to whom the insurance money or any portion thereof shall be paid in the event that the insured at the time of his death has no spouse, common-law partner or children.

• Marginal note:Payment to contingent beneficiaries or to estate or succession

  (2) Where the insured survives the spouse, the common-law partner and all the children of the insured, the insurance money shall be paid to the contingent beneficiary or beneficiaries, if any, but in default of the designation of a contingent beneficiary, or in the event of the death of all the contingent beneficiaries within the lifetime of the insured, the insurance money shall be paid, as it falls due or otherwise as the Minister may determine, to the estate or succession of the insured.

• Marginal note:Apportionment

  (3) Where the insured designates more than one contingent beneficiary, the insured may apportion, and may at any time re-apportion, the insurance money among them as he sees fit, and in default of any such apportionment the insurance money shall be paid to the contingent beneficiaries surviving the insured in equal shares.

• Marginal note:Death of designated beneficiary

  (4) Where a contingent beneficiary dies in the lifetime of the insured, the insured may, subject to subsection (1), designate a contingent beneficiary or beneficiaries to whom the share formerly apportioned to the deceased contingent beneficiary shall be paid, and in default of any such designation, the said share shall be divided equally among the contingent beneficiaries, if any, surviving the insured.

Marginal note:Change of beneficiaries

8 Subject to this Act, the insured may at any time change the beneficiary or beneficiaries, or the contingent beneficiary or contingent beneficiaries, theretofore designated by the insured.

Marginal note:Provision by contract for change of beneficiary

9 Any designation of a beneficiary or of a contingent beneficiary, or any variation in the option as to the mode of payment or any apportionment of insurance money, other than is made by the insured in the application for the insurance, may be made in accordance with the provisions of the contract of insurance in that behalf.