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While you are receiving an OMERS survivor pension…

Changing your address or banking information
Power of attorney (POA)
Procedure in the event of your death

Changing your address or banking information

Please notify OMERS immediately if you change your address or banking information (bank, branch, or account number). Please send us a signed letter with your:

  • full name (printed);
  • OMERS reference number; and
  • new address and telephone number.
  • If your payments are made by direct deposit to your chequing account, please send us a new void cheque.
  • If your payments are made to your savings account, we need the new account number, branch and transit numbers.

Note: We suggest keeping your old account open until you are sure your new information has been processed, and that your payments are in fact being deposited to the new account.

If you receive your pension payments by direct deposit, you can also change your address by calling OMERS Client Services. We need your:

  • full name;
  • OMERS reference number;
  • date of birth; and
  • old and new address and telephone number.

Note: For your protection, if you receive your pension payment by cheque, OMERS cannot process your address or banking changes by phone.

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Power of attorney (POA)

If you appoint someone to have power of attorney (POA) to look after your financial affairs should you become unable to, please send OMERS a copy of the POA document for our records. For pension purposes, your POA document requires (continuing) power of attorney for property.

We will deal with the person you have appointed but we must have proof of their identity. Also, if your POA document states that proof of your disability is needed first, we will need this proof before we can deal with the person you appointed.

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  Procedure in the event of your death

As the recipient of an OMERS survivor pension, you should designate someone to contact OMERS immediately in the event of your death. We'll need to know:

  • your name;
  • your OMERS reference number (or social insurance number);
  • the date of death;
  • whether there are any eligible children; and
  • the name and number of someone we can contact for more information.

If the spouse of a deceased OMERS member dies while receiving an OMERS survivor pension, the following order of entitlement to a benefit applies:

1. The original member's eligible children will receive a pension for as long as they are eligible.

The children's pension is equal to the survivor's pension, the spouse was receiving at the date of their death (less any entitlement for eligible children).

  • The children's pension is divided equally among the children and is paid to, or on behalf of each eligible child.
  • When a child is no longer eligible, the benefit is redistributed among the rest of the eligible children.

2. If there are no eligible children, the original member's named beneficiary may be entitled to a residual refund. (We need to have their name on file. A survivor cannot change the beneficiary that the original member chose.)

A residual refund is the total of the member's OMERS contributions with interest, minus any pension paid to the member or their survivors.

After five years of retirement, most members have received pension payments equal to their contributions plus interest, so there probably would be no refund.

3. If the original member did not name a beneficiary, then their estate may be entitled to the residual refund.

Note: A deceased member's will directs the settlement of the estate, not the OMERS entitlement.

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