Need help for marital status clarification for my husband in Canada

[annieann13]

Hello Toby,

I appreciate your help. Here are below answers in blue.

**************************************************************

My husband is a Canadian citizenship. We got married in Thailand for years but have been living abroad in different countries until we landed in Canada today. I understand that to marry a foreign woman and perform marriage abroad is also legally recognized as well as Canada, but in reality regarding to Canadian laws, it is not quite legally recognized when it comes to beneficiaries/rights/estates/pensions, etc. (His status is still valid as "single status", not "marital status after having been married till now".

It would help if you gave us the source for this statement, so we may examine the details. On the face of it is it doesn't make sense to me that Canada recognizes a foreign marriage but treats the deceased as a single when it come time to apportion the Estate to beneficiaries. I suspect that you are citing the Law governing dying intestate, but don't want to guess. It's more efficient if you cite your source, and we can go from there.

Most benefits we have had are mostly from his company pension. I do not know how CPP & OAS work in Canada. My husband does not know anything much and he tries to avoid any costs if possible. That is the problem. What I know is on his company pension, he did included his parents for 25% of all his company pension as well as his income sources (investments, bank accounts). The house that we are going to buy, the mortgage will be in our names as well as the estate owners but he has opened the single account (his own name) to transfer money when it comes to pay mortgage bills monthly.

To avoid any beneficiaries/rights conflicts with his parents/relatives in the future, as we are having baby here, we discussed that if anything happens with him, we agree to have all his beneficiaries (estates,funds,pensions,etc) go to our kids and me. Due to his dangerous job and being far away from home very often, he's afraid of having his parents/relatives involved in this if he deceases in the future. He doesn't want to pay the lawyer for the wills and he wants me to have complete rights to possess all his heritage for me and for kids.

I recommend that you (1) write a Will (have it witnessed by two people who would not be beneficiaries); (2) designate you as beneficiary on all insurance policies and any employment pension. This would eliminate any problems at the time of settling the Estate; (3) designate you as Trustee of his Estate (thus you make the decisions); and most importantly (4) discuss the Will with family, so there are no surprises.

Referring to the first answer above, those benefits have been mentioned and already submitted to his company for years. Only house that we are going to buy together will put our both names as joint owners in the estate. As you mentioned about trustee, is it necessary to have it? I did mentioned that if something happened in the future and with your single status would probably not allow me to own/have rights on this estate even though our marriage certificate was recognized in Canada (I have used our foreign marriage certificate to register PR benefits and CRA, and CRA has changed his status from single to martial status. However, the Statistics Office (Service Canada) did not know/recognize our foreign marriage certificate. They said if was legally registered then it would recognize in Canada. My point is I agree what Service Canada said because I have not had any registration problems (ie opening joint account, company benefits) but my concern is if there is something happened unpredictably due to any circumstances, would I be eligible to have rights on those benefits and estates? It is hard for me to convince him to believe and he does not want to pay for the lawyer to detail all benefits because of costs. He does not believe that I would get any problem if that happened because he could see I had no problem when using foreign marriage certificate for any registrations here. I think common practices are acceptable but if it comes to death, divorce,etc, would that be another story that I had to bring children back to my homecountry with nothing?

After we also contacted Ontario service/Newfoundland Government, we were refused to get help from this. They said "Even though marriage outside Canada is legally recognized but nothing to do or change his single status to marital status because he married outside Canada".

This could mean that you need not do anything to get your foreign marriage officially recognized in Canada. I can't be sure without hearing the comments first-hand. But I did call the Ontario Service Canada people, and was told (see separate post) that all you'd have to do is prove that you are a spouse (show your foreign marriage certificate) to be entitled to any CPP and OAS pensions your husband had accumulated by the time if his death. And if you are the designated beneficiary on any employer pension and insurance policies, there is no question but that you will get the payments.

To register kids and me in CPP & OAS pensions, how should my husband do? I am unsure if the deferred benefits pension provided by his company would be the same as CPP & OAS pensions? If yes, that goes to his parents for 25% of all funds (investments, bank accounts, company pensions except the house). If no, how would that work to have my husband register/put my name into this CPP&OAS pensions? (if CPP&OAS pensions are not part of his company's pension then, my understanding is he has still have his parents' name in there).

One more thing is we are moving from ON to NL, and we have things done legally in NL, Canada.We did asked the same question to Service Canada in NL, they said that foreign marriage certificate was recognized here in Canada, and there was no need to remarry for marriage registration in Canada (but some couples did as Service Canada didn't know how the marriage registration conflicts were if having deaths, divorce, etc, the first marriage registration that is taken place would count by Canadian law). Now we are in the middle of nowhere, and we still do not know if I am commonly recognized my rights/eligibility of current benefits/legal actions only or through the future.

As said earlier, it seems that having trustee, we might have to pay for extra money indefinitely? I talked about trustee to him before and our foreign marriage certificate would cause problem in the future if we had no trustee under my name (his concern is cost), that is why it's the problem

Thank you

 

[can_usa_97]

Is this the same for marriage that took place in the US?

 

[curt0227]

Thank you for the help all, will look into it.

 

[can_usa_97]

I was discussing this with my husband, and our situation and wondering if we were affected.

Could you perhaps just get remarried in Canada and have that date be the valid date forward in terms of Canada law at least?

 

[annieann13]

I was discussing this with my husband, and our situation and wondering if we were affected.

Could you perhaps just get remarried in Canada and have that date be the valid date forward in terms of Canada law at least?

Hello can_usa_97,

I am not sure if your case is similar to mine, but it's likely. You can remarry in Canada now because Service Canada will not know that but you never know if something involving in your spouse's death/divorce in the future. When it comes to the court, they will count your first marriage certificate taken place/received (overseas).

i. e. What I have been told by Service Canada in ON & NL, they said the same things that Canada recognized foreign marriage certificate (make sure your marriage certificate is certified either by Canadian embassy or the country where your marriage was held). That means when you need to register/open bank accounts or company benefits, PR benefits, there are no problems at the present. On the other hand, if Canadian died in the future (uncertain), the spouse/kids might receive the benefits/estates or not depending on what Canadians had written before marriage was taken place. You can see the conflicts. If you go ask CIC/Service Canada, they said the same things that foreign marriage certificate is recognized in Canada but they might not think beyond if one died/divorced. If your husband has already made the wills or had your name on benefits/estates as joint holders at the present, I would say you will not have problems in the future, I guess.

That's why I am waiting for Toby's reply or any experts as we cannot resolve it even though we have asked many parties.

 

[toby]

Hello Toby,

I appreciate your help. Here are below answers in blue.

**************************************************************

My husband is a Canadian citizenship. We got married in Thailand for years but have been living abroad in different countries until we landed in Canada today. I understand that to marry a foreign woman and perform marriage abroad is also legally recognized as well as Canada, but in reality regarding to Canadian laws, it is not quite legally recognized when it comes to beneficiaries/rights/estates/pensions, etc. (His status is still valid as "single status", not "marital status after having been married till now".

It would help if you gave us the source for this statement, so we may examine the details. On the face of it is it doesn't make sense to me that Canada recognizes a foreign marriage but treats the deceased as a single when it come time to apportion the Estate to beneficiaries. I suspect that you are citing the Law governing dying intestate, but don't want to guess. It's more efficient if you cite your source, and we can go from there.

Most benefits we have had are mostly from his company pension.

#1 Husband simply designates you as the 100% beneficiary of his company pension plan. As this is the main financial asset, besides the house, your problems are largely solved with this move.

I do not know how CPP & OAS work in Canada. My husband does not know anything much and he tries to avoid any costs if possible. That is the problem. What I know is on his company pension, he did included his parents for 25% of all his company pension as well as his income sources (investments, bank accounts).

#2 Get husband to revoke these designations at the bank and where he made investments, and declare you the 100% beneficiary. Nothing complicated about this, and no cost involved.

The house that we are going to buy, the mortgage will be in our names as well as the estate owners [Who are the "estate owners"? Part of the difficulty in advising you is that you use terms without explaining them. Then deed of the house should be in your names jontly. The parents woudl then have no claim on the house if your husband were to die.] but he has opened the single account (his own name) to transfer money when it comes to pay mortgage bills monthly.

To avoid any beneficiaries/rights conflicts with his parents/relatives in the future, as we are having baby here, we discussed that if anything happens with him, we agree to have all his beneficiaries (estates,funds,pensions,etc) go to our kids and me. Due to his dangerous job and being far away from home very often, he's afraid of having his parents/relatives involved in this if he deceases in the future. He doesn't want to pay the lawyer for the wills and he wants me to have complete rights to possess all his heritage for me and for kids.

I recommend that you (1) write a Will (have it witnessed by two people who would not be beneficiaries); (2) designate you as beneficiary on all insurance policies and any employment pension. This would eliminate any problems at the time of settling the Estate; (3) designate you as Trustee of his Estate (thus you make the decisions); and most importantly (4) discuss the Will with family, so there are no surprises.

Referring to the first answer above, those benefits have been mentioned and already submitted to his company for years. [I don't understand how benefits can submitted to his company, nor what those benefits are. Sorry, can't advise you here.] Only house that we are going to buy together will put our both names as joint owners in the estate. As you mentioned about trustee, is it necessary to have it?

Every Will has an executor (what I meant by "trustee"; sorry for the confusion. If husband makes you the executor of his Will, that is cheaper than having a lawyer do the job. ] I did mentioned that if something happened in the future and with your single status would probably not allow me to own/have rights on this estate even though our marriage certificate was recognized in Canada (I have used our foreign marriage certificate to register PR benefits and CRA, and CRA has changed his status from single to martial status. However, the Statistics Office (Service Canada) did not know/recognize our foreign marriage certificate. They said if was legally registered then it would recognize in Canada. My point is I agree what Service Canada said because I have not had any registration problems (ie opening joint account, company benefits) but my concern is if there is something happened unpredictably due to any circumstances, would I be eligible to have rights on those benefits and estates? It is hard for me to convince him to believe and he does not want to pay for the lawyer to detail all benefits because of costs. He does not believe that I would get any problem if that happened because he could see I had no problem when using foreign marriage certificate for any registrations here. I think common practices are acceptable but if it comes to death, divorce,etc, would that be another story that I had to bring children back to my homecountry with nothing?

I think we've covered this before. Just follow the advice above.

After we also contacted Ontario service/Newfoundland Government, we were refused to get help from this. They said "Even though marriage outside Canada is legally recognized but nothing to do or change his single status to marital status because he married outside Canada".

This could mean that you need not do anything to get your foreign marriage officially recognized in Canada. I can't be sure without hearing the comments first-hand. But I did call the Ontario Service Canada people, and was told (see separate post) that all you'd have to do is prove that you are a spouse (show your foreign marriage certificate) to be entitled to any CPP and OAS pensions your husband had accumulated by the time if his death. And if you are the designated beneficiary on any employer pension and insurance policies, there is no question but that you will get the payments.

To register kids and me in CPP & OAS pensions, how should my husband do? I am unsure if the deferred benefits pension provided by his company would be the same as CPP & OAS pensions? If yes, that goes to his parents for 25% of all funds (investments, bank accounts, company pensions except the house). If no, how would that work to have my husband register/put my name into this CPP&OAS pensions? (if CPP&OAS pensions are not part of his company's pension then, my understanding is he has still have his parents' name in there).

One more thing is we are moving from ON to NL, and we have things done legally in NL, Canada.We did asked the same question to Service Canada in NL, they said that foreign marriage certificate was recognized here in Canada, and there was no need to remarry for marriage registration in Canada (but some couples did as Service Canada didn't know how the marriage registration conflicts were if having deaths, divorce, etc, the first marriage registration that is taken place would count by Canadian law). Now we are in the middle of nowhere, and we still do not know if I am commonly recognized my rights/eligibility of current benefits/legal actions only or through the future.

As said earlier, it seems that having trustee, we might have to pay for extra money indefinitely? I talked about trustee to him before and our foreign marriage certificate would cause problem in the future if we had no trustee under my name (his concern is cost), that is why it's the problem

Thank you

 

[annieann13]

Thank you so much, Toby

 

[toby]

Thank you so much, Toby

You're welcome. I know the rules and laws of a new country can be confusing at times. Once you get these items sorted out, I hope you'll feel more comfortable and relaxed.

I share your husband's distaste for paying lawyers hundreds of dollars for simple actions.

Cheers