Update Beneficiaries After Divorce in Nova Scotia

Your new will does not protect you here. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, life insurance policies, and pension plans all have named beneficiaries that bypass the estate entirely. If your ex-spouse is still listed as the beneficiary on your RRSP when you die, they receive the full payout — regardless of what your will says, regardless of your Divorce Order, regardless of how long you have been divorced.

What Divorce Does and Does Not Revoke

Section 17 of the Nova Scotia Wills Act automatically revokes gifts to an ex-spouse upon divorce, unless a contrary intention is clearly stated in the will, a separation agreement, or a court order. That covers anything distributed through your will.

It does not touch direct beneficiary designations held by financial institutions. Those designations are contracts between you and the institution, not testamentary instruments. The bank holding your RRSP is not checking your marital status — they are paying whoever the form says to pay.

Which Accounts to Check

Go through every account that has a named beneficiary:

RRSPs and RRIFs. These are the highest-risk accounts because they often hold the largest balances. Contact your financial institution and request a Change of Beneficiary Form. You can name anyone — a new partner, children, a trust, or your estate (though naming the estate triggers probate fees).

TFSAs. Same process, same risk. Contact your TFSA issuer directly.

Life insurance. Group life insurance through your employer and individual policies both have named beneficiaries. For group coverage, contact your HR department to update the designation. For individual policies, call the insurer.

Employer pension plans. If you have a defined benefit or defined contribution pension, the plan likely names a beneficiary for the death benefit. Contact your plan administrator — this is separate from any pension division you may be going through.

RESPs. If you have registered education savings plans for your children, review the subscriber and successor subscriber designations. These determine who controls the account, not who benefits from it.

The Spousal RRSP Complication

If a spousal RRSP was established during your marriage — where one spouse contributed to an account owned by the other — the "spousal contributor" designation needs to be removed after divorce. This requires a written, signed statement from the account owner certifying three things:

1. The parties are living separate and apart due to relationship breakdown
2. No contributions have been made to any of the owner's RRSPs by the ex-spouse in the current calendar year or the two preceding years
3. No withdrawals have been made from the account in the current year

Once the institution verifies these conditions, they remove the contributor's name and the account becomes an individual RRSP. If the spousal designation is not removed and the ex-contributor has made contributions within the three-year attribution window, any withdrawals could be attributed back to the contributor as taxable income.

Do Not Wait on This

Beneficiary updates are free and take about 15 minutes per account. The downside of delaying is catastrophic — an unintended payout to an ex-spouse that your estate cannot recover.

The Nova Scotia After-Divorce Checklist includes a Beneficiary Update Worksheet that lists every account type to review, with space to track the institution, current beneficiary, new designation, and confirmation date.

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