An amendment to Manitoba’s Beneficiary Designation Act allows a pension plan member’s legal representative to now make a beneficiary designation on behalf of the member if they can’t make the designation themselves.
However, the representative can only designate a beneficiary if the plan renews, replaces or converts a plan made by the participant and the same person is the designated beneficiary of both the new plan and the plan it replaced.
Read: NL permitting electronic naming of beneficiaries for pensions, retirement plans
A plan administrator would also be required to verify the identity of the person making the designation and the identity and authority of a representative, before accepting a designation.
In other news, the province’s Family Support Enforcement Act comes into effect July 1, 2023. The act gives the provincial government the authority to request information from any person, government or other entity — including a pension plan administrator — about a child support payor’s pension, pension benefit credits or pooled registered pension plan.
In addition, if a child support deduction notice is served, the notice binds the support payor’s pension benefits as if they were wages, in the same manner as a garnishing order binds pension benefits.
Read: Manitoba, NL formally join multi-jurisdictional pension plan agreement