The federal government has once again called on provinces to develop efficient systems for allowing adults with disabilities to access Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) in the 2013 federal budget unveiled on Thursday,
Since becoming available in 2008, RDSPs have been opened by more than 65,000 Canadians, according to budget documents. Yet many adults with disabilities have had difficulty in opening plans because of the stipulation that they must be deemed legally incompetent.
To help more Canadians access RDSPs, the federal government introduced a temporary measure in 2012 allowing a family member or spouse to become the holder of plan for an adult with disabilities in cases in which there is some doubt as to the disabled person’s ability to enter a contractual agreement without having that person declared legally incompetent.
This temporary measure allowed more RDSPs to be opened, according to the budget documents. However, provincial trust laws stipulating that withdrawals made from an RDSP must be paid to the beneficiary (or legal representative) means that provinces must implement their own legislation and processes to allow the family member or spouse to manage the plan.
So far, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon Territory have created processes to make it easier to manage a plan on behalf of a disabled individual, according to budget documents,
However, despite indicating that they would do so, Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have yet to implement such systems.
In this year’s budget, the federal government urged these remaining provinces and territories to hasten the development and implementation of processes allowing for the management of RDSPs by a family member or spouse.