If your spouse or common-law partner paid into the Canada Pension Plan, you can likely get a survivor’s pension of up to C$904.59 a month in 2026 if you’re 65 or older, or up to C$803.54 if you’re under 65, plus a one-time C$2,500 death benefit paid to the estate. Children under 18, and students up to 25, can get their own monthly benefit. None of it is automatic: you have to apply, and CPP pays at most 12 months of back payments. If you already have a sizeable CPP of your own, the survivor’s pension adds less than you’d expect, because the two are capped together.
What the CPP pays after a death
The survivor’s pension
Service Canada first works out the contributor’s retirement pension as if they had been 65 when they died. Your age at their death then sets the formula:
- 65 or older: 60% of that pension, if you get no other CPP benefit.
- Under 65: a flat-rate amount plus 37.5% of that pension. At the 2026 maximum, about C$238 of the C$803.54 is the flat-rate part.
You must be the legal spouse or a common-law partner who lived with the contributor in a conjugal relationship for at least a year. A separated legal spouse can qualify if there’s no common-law partner. If a CPP credit split was approved for the same couple in January 2025 or later, the survivor isn’t eligible, unless the two reunited and lived together for at least 12 months before the death.
The pension keeps going if you remarry. If you’re widowed more than once, CPP pays only the larger survivor’s pension.
The death benefit
The death benefit is a one-time C$2,500. For deaths since January 1, 2025, a second C$2,500 can be added, but only when the person never received a CPP or QPP retirement or disability benefit and left no eligible spouse or partner. The executor applies, ideally within 60 days. Without an executor, the person who paid for the funeral, then the surviving spouse, then the next of kin can apply. The contributor needs enough years of contributions: at least a third of their contributory period with a minimum of three years, or at least 10 years.
The children’s benefit
Each child under 18, or 18 to 25 and in school full-time, can get up to C$307.81 a month in 2026. A child can receive up to two children’s benefits, for example if both parents have died or one has died and the other gets a CPP disability benefit. A parent or guardian applies for a child under 18; a student 18 or older applies for themselves.
The rule that surprises people: the combined cap
If you already receive your own CPP retirement pension, the survivor’s pension isn’t added on in full. The two are combined into one payment, capped at the maximum retirement pension, C$1,507.65 a month at 65 in 2026. If you get a CPP disability pension, the cap is the maximum disability pension. Only the largest flat-rate amount is paid when more than one benefit has one.
For a couple who both earned well, that cap can mean the survivor’s pension adds very little. Two things soften it:
- The enhancement sits outside the cap. Since 2019 the CPP enhancement has added to both retirement and survivor pensions, and the enhanced part isn’t subject to these maximums. Its size depends on how much the contributor paid in from 2019 on.
- Timing still matters. Couples choosing when to take CPP should model what the survivor would get under each choice, not just the household total while both are alive.
Other benefits to check
- Allowance for the Survivor. If you’re 60 to 64 with a low income and your spouse has died, OAS pays a tax-free allowance of up to C$1,726.18 a month. It’s means-tested.
- Workplace pensions. A defined benefit plan may pay a survivor pension or a lump sum. If your spouse had already retired, the pension option they chose then usually decides which. See pension commuted value decisions.
- Quebec. If the contributor worked in Quebec, the Quebec Pension Plan pays survivor benefits under its own rules.
Common mistakes
- Waiting to apply. Back payments stop at 12 months. Apply as soon as you can; the first payment usually takes 6 to 12 weeks after a complete application.
- Assuming the death benefit and survivor’s pension are one application. They’re separate, and different people may apply.
- Expecting the survivor’s pension on top of your own CPP in full. Check the combined cap first.
- Forgetting the children. Students 18 to 25 apply themselves, and part-time students get half.
- Making big money decisions in the first months. Selling the house, moving investments or buying an annuity can almost always wait until the benefits are sorted.
The tax year after a death
A death changes the household tax picture for years. Income that was spread across two returns now lands on one: pension income you split with your spouse on Form T1032 can’t be split any more, and the survivor’s pension, your own pensions and any inherited RRIF income all add up on a single return. That can push the survivor toward the OAS clawback, which starts at C$95,323 of net income in 2026. Check early, with the institution and a tax preparer, who is named as beneficiary or successor on each RRIF and TFSA, because it changes how each account is taxed and how quickly it can move.
Questions to ask a planner
- Which CPP, OAS and workplace pension benefits should I apply for, and by when?
- How does the combined cap affect my own CPP, and is there anything to gain from the timing?
- What will my income and tax look like next year as a single filer?
- Am I now near the OAS clawback, and how do I stay under it?
- How should the accounts I’ve inherited be invested and drawn down?
- How are you paid? Do you earn anything if I move money to you or buy insurance or an annuity?
The last question matters. Widowed clients often have money in motion, and some advisors are paid by the product or by the amount you move to them.
When a fee-only planner is worth it
A fee-only or advice-only planner is worth it when there’s a workplace pension decision, accounts to retitle, or a tax bill that has just changed shape. A one-time plan is a good first step: it gets every benefit claimed and the next few years mapped without committing you to anyone.
Among Canadian fee-only planners who publish prices, a one-time plan has a median of C$1,900 (middle half C$950 to C$3,000, 46 firms). Hourly advice has a median of C$250 (15 firms) and ongoing planning C$2,300 a year (21 firms). The samples are small, as the Canadian cost guide explains.
Where to find one
Browse fee-only planners by province in the public graph: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon. Or start from the estate planning specialty, the list of advisors for retirees or pension planning specialists.
For the plain definitions, see the glossary entries for the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security.