What Happens to Health Benefits and Life Insurance When You Divorce in Ontario?

Divorce does not automatically settle every benefit or insurance question, so check each plan and policy rather than assuming. One effect of divorce that is clear is on your will: if you divorce after making a will, gifts to your former spouse and their appointment as executor are revoked, and the will is read as if the former spouse had died first, unless the will shows a contrary intention.

The same revocation applies if spouses were separated at death, meaning they had lived apart because of the breakdown for 3 years, or had a separation agreement, court order or family arbitration award and were still living apart at death. That applies only where the separation event happens on or after January 1, 2022.

Whether your health coverage under a spouse's workplace plan ends, and whether a life insurance or RRSP beneficiary designation changes, depend on the plan and the policy, so read the plan documents and the policy wording. Update your beneficiary designations yourself rather than assuming divorce changes them, and ask a lawyer to confirm.