Prorated Annuities — Early Retirement

Marginal note:Fifty-five years of age and ten years in office

• 43.1 (1) The Governor in Council shall grant to a judge who has attained the age of fifty-five years, who has continued in judicial office for at least ten years and who elects early retirement, at the option of the judge, an immediate annuity or a deferred annuity, calculated in accordance with this section.

• Marginal note:Calculation of amount of deferred annuity

  (2) The amount of the deferred annuity shall be two-thirds of the amount of the salary annexed to the judge’s office at the time of the election multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of years, to the nearest one-tenth of a year, during which the judge has continued in judicial office and the denominator of which is the number of years, to the nearest one-tenth of a year, during which the judge would have been required to serve in judicial office in order to be eligible to be granted an annuity under paragraph 42(1)(a).

• Marginal note:Immediate annuity

  (3) If a judge exercises the option to receive an immediate annuity, the amount of that annuity is equal to the amount of the deferred annuity, reduced by the product obtained by multiplying

  • (a) five per cent of the amount of the deferred annuity

  by

  • (b) the difference between sixty and his or her age in years, to the nearest one-tenth of a year, at the time he or she exercises the option.

• Marginal note:Second exercise of option

  (4) A judge whose option was to receive a deferred annuity may, between the date of that option and the date on which the deferred annuity would be payable, opt for an immediate annuity. The Governor in Council shall, in that case, grant an immediate annuity to the judge from the date of the second option.

• Marginal note:Survivor’s annuity

  (5) On the death of a judge who has been granted an immediate annuity or a deferred annuity under subsection (1) or (4), the annuity granted to a survivor under subsection 44(2) shall be determined as if the judge were in receipt of a deferred annuity.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (6) The definitions in this subsection apply in this section.

  “deferred annuity”

  « pension différée »

  “deferred annuity” means an annuity that becomes payable to a judge at the time that he or she reaches sixty years of age and that continues to be paid during the life of the judge.

  “immediate annuity”

  « pension immédiate »

  “immediate annuity” means an annuity that becomes payable to a judge at the time that he or she exercises an option to receive the annuity and that continues to be paid during the life of the judge.

Marginal note:Election for enhanced annuity to survivor

• 44.01 (1) Subject to the regulations, a judge may elect to have the annuity to be granted to his or her survivor increased so that it is calculated as if the reference to “one-half” in subsection 44(2) were read as a reference to “sixty per cent” or “seventy-five per cent”.

• Marginal note:Reduction of annuity

  (2) If a judge makes the election, the amount of the annuity granted to the judge shall be reduced in accordance with the regulations as of the date the election takes effect, but the combined actuarial present value of the reduced annuity and the annuity that would be granted to the survivor may not be less than the combined actuarial present value of the annuity granted to the judge and the annuity that would be granted to the survivor, immediately before the reduction is made.

• Marginal note:Election to take effect at time of retirement

  (3) Subject to subsection (6), an election under this section takes effect on the date that the judge ceases to hold office.

• Marginal note:Death within one year after election

  (4) Despite anything in this section, when a judge dies within one year after the election takes effect, the annuity payable to the survivor remains that payable under subsection 44(2) and the amount representing the reduction that was made in the amount of the judge’s annuity under subsection (2) shall be repaid to the judge’s estate or succession, together with interest at the rate prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister of National Revenue as refunds of overpayments of tax under that Act.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (5) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

  • (a) the time, manner and circumstances in which an election is made, is deemed to have been made or is deemed not to have been made, is revoked or is deemed to have been revoked, or ceases to have effect, and the retroactive application of that making, revocation or cessation;

  • (b) the reduction to be made in the amount of a judge’s annuity when the election is made;

  • (c) the calculation of the amount of the annuity to be paid to the judge and the survivor under subsection (2);

  • (d) the time, manner and circumstances in which a reduction of a judge’s annuity may be returned and interest may be paid; and

  • (e) any other matter that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this section.

• Marginal note:Transitional

  (6) A judge who is in receipt of an annuity on the day on which this section comes into force may make his or her election in accordance with the regulations, and the election takes effect on the day this section comes into force.

• Marginal note:Limitation on annuity to survivor

  (7) Despite anything in this section, no election may be made under this section for the benefit of a spouse or common-law partner of a judge unless that person was the spouse or common-law partner at the date the judge ceased to hold office.

Marginal note:Election for former judges

• 44.2 (1) Subject to the regulations, a judge to whom an annuity has been granted may elect to reduce his or her annuity so that an annuity may be paid to a person who, at the time of the election, is the spouse or common-law partner of the judge but to whom an annuity under section 44 may not be granted.

• Marginal note:Reduction of annuity

  (2) If a judge makes the election, the amount of the annuity granted to the judge shall be reduced in accordance with the regulations, but the combined actuarial present value of the reduced annuity and the annuity that would be granted to the spouse or common-law partner under subsection (3) may not be less than the actuarial present value of the annuity granted to the judge immediately before the reduction is made.

• Marginal note:Payment to person in respect of whom election is made

  (3) When the judge dies, the Governor in Council shall grant to a spouse or common-law partner in respect of whom an election was made an annuity in an amount determined in accordance with the election, subsection (2) and the regulations.

• Marginal note:Death within one year after election

  (3.1) Despite anything in this section, when a judge dies within one year after making the election, the election is deemed not to have been made and the amount representing the reduction that was made in the amount of the judge’s annuity under subsection (2) shall be repaid to the judge’s estate or succession, together with interest at the rate prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister of National Revenue as refunds of overpayments of tax under that Act.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (4) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

  • (a) the time, manner and circumstances in which an election is made, is deemed to have been made or is deemed not to have been made, is revoked or is deemed to have been revoked, or ceases to have effect, and the retroactive application of that making, revocation or cessation;

  • (b) the reduction to be made in the amount of a judge’s annuity when an election is made;

  • (c) the amount of the annuity to be paid under subsection (3);

  • (d) the time, manner and circumstances in which a reduction of a judge’s annuity may be returned and interest may be paid; and

  • (e) any other matter that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this section.

• Marginal note:Reduction of contributions

  (2.1) A supernumerary judge, a judge who continues in judicial office after having been in judicial office for at least fifteen years and whose combined age and number of years in judicial office is not less than eighty, or a judge referred to in section 41.1 is not required, on or after April 1, 2000, to contribute under subsections (1) and (2) but is required to contribute, by reservation from salary, to the Supplementary Retirement Benefits Account, in respect of the period beginning on that day, at a rate of one per cent of his or her salary.

• Marginal note:Interest

  (2.2) Interest is payable on all contributions refunded as a result of the application of subsection (2.1) at the rate prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister of National Revenue as refunds of overpayments of tax under that Act.

• Marginal note:Income Tax Act

  (3) For the purposes of the Income Tax Act, the amounts contributed by a judge pursuant to subsection (1), (2) or (2.1) are deemed to be contributed to or under a registered pension plan.

• (B) paragraph 42(1)(c) or section 43.1 of the Judges Act,