[Summer 2025 GPS] CPP Survivor Benefits

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), or QPP in Quebec, is meant to give Canadian retirees a specified amount every month. The base age to begin claiming CPP is 65, but you can start as early as age 60, with a penalty, or delay it until age 70, with a bonus. This article explains the pros and cons of each option. Below are age 65 amounts.

In this article, we will discuss what happens to the payments from the Canada Pension Plan when a CPP contributor dies.

After the death of a CPP contributor, there are three types of CPP benefits payable to the survivors:

1. Death Benefit:

The CPP death benefit is a one-time, taxable $2,500 payment that is sent to the deceased’s estate or another person who is qualified after death.

2. Survivor Benefit for Children:

This is a monthly payment for a child of a deceased contributor. For the benefit to be paid, the deceased contributor must have made sufficient contributions to the CPP. To be eligible, the child must be either under age 18 or age 18 to 25 and in full-time or part-time attendance at a recognized school or university.

3. Survivor Pension:

The CPP Survivor's Pension is a regular sum sent to the legal spouse or common-law partner of a CPP contributor who has died. The CPP Survivor's Pension amount is based on: a) the surviving spouse's age and b) how much the deceased had paid into CPP. The first step in determining the survivor pension amount is figuring out how much the deceased's CPP retirement income would have been if they were 65 years old at the time of death. After that, another estimate is made based on how old the surviving spouse was when the contributor died.

• If the surviving spouse is 65 or older, they will receive 60% of the deceased's CPP retirement income, provided they do not receive any other CPP benefits.
• If the surviving spouse is under age 65, they will receive a flat rate portion and 37.5% of the deceased's CPP retirement income, provided they do not receive any other CPP benefits.

The table below shows the monthly average and the maximum amounts in each case:

As shown above, if the surviving spouse is receiving their own retirement CPP benefit, the survivor's pension will be added to that payment. However, the added benefit usually isn’t the sum of the two separate benefits. In other words, the surviving spouse cannot receive a full survivor's pension and a full retirement pension simultaneously.