Under the Quebec Pension Plan Act and subject to certain conditions, a person who, at the time of death, was contributing or had contributed to the Quebec Pension Plan may be entitled to three types of benefits payable by Retraite Québec. These are the death benefit, the survivor’s pension, and the orphan’s pension.
The surviving spouse’s pension is a monthly pension paid to the surviving spouse based on certain criteria (contributions made by the deceased, the surviving spouse’s age and health, the presence of dependent children, etc.). The surviving spouse may be the deceased person’s married spouse or, under certain conditions, their common-law partner—whether heterosexual or homosexual.
The orphan’s pension may be paid to a child of the deceased who is under 18 years of age and who was living with the deceased at the time of death.
However, a formal application must be filed with Retraite Québec for each of these benefits.