How to Notify Benefit Agencies After a Death in New Brunswick

When someone dies in New Brunswick, each government agency that was paying them a benefit or maintaining their records needs to be told separately. Nothing is automatic. If you do not notify Service Canada, they will keep paying the deceased's CPP and OAS — and cashing those cheques constitutes fraud, triggering mandatory repayment orders. If you do not notify CRA, your tax situation remains tied to a deceased person's household income.

Here is who to notify, in what order, and what each agency needs from you.

Before You Call Anyone: Gather These Documents First

Every agency will ask for the same basic information. Collect it once before you start calling:

• Certified death certificate — order from SNB Vital Statistics online at snb.ca ($40 each; order at least five). If you need it faster, the expedited option processes within 48 hours.
• Social Insurance Number (SIN) of the deceased
• Medicare number of the deceased (on their provincial health card)
• SIN and Medicare number of the surviving spouse
• Marriage certificate or proof of common-law relationship
• Most recent CRA Notice of Assessment for the deceased (and for the surviving spouse if applying for income-tested benefits)
• Banking information for direct deposit of any survivor benefits

Priority 1 — Stop Payments and Prevent Overpayments (Within 48 Hours)

Service Canada: 1-800-277-9914 Purpose: Halt the deceased's CPP retirement pension and Old Age Security pension. These payments are issued monthly, and any amount deposited after the death must be repaid. Keeping the money — even if you intend to repay — can trigger a fraud investigation.

What to say: "I am calling to report the death of [name], Social Insurance Number [SIN]. They were receiving [CPP/OAS/both]. The date of death was [date]. I need to stop all payments immediately."

Service Canada will provide a reference number. Record it.

What happens next: Service Canada will issue a Pension Overpayment Notice for any funds deposited after the date of death. Contact your bank to confirm whether the most recent deposit was from before or after the death — the date on the bank statement is usually enough. If a payment was deposited after death, it must be returned.

Priority 2 — Apply for Survivor Benefits (Within the First Two Weeks)

Service Canada: same number (1-800-277-9914) Purpose: Apply for the CPP Death Benefit (Form ISP1200) and the CPP Survivor's Pension (Form ISP1300).

These are two separate forms and two separate benefits. The death benefit ($2,500 lump sum) goes to the estate or whoever paid the funeral; the survivor pension is an ongoing monthly payment to the surviving spouse. You can apply for both in the same call or visit, but ask Service Canada to open two separate files.

You can also apply online through My Service Canada Account. Online applications can be faster if your documents are ready to upload.

NB Social Development (low-income families only): 1-833-733-7835 Purpose: Apply for the provincial funeral benefit if household income cannot cover funeral costs. Critical deadline: within two weeks of the death. Missing this window permanently closes the application — there is no extension. If you are uncertain whether you qualify, call immediately and ask — do not wait until you are sure.

Priority 3 — Provincial Notifications (Within the First Month)

New Brunswick Medicare: 1-888-762-8600 Purpose: Cancel the deceased's Medicare coverage. Do not use the online portal (myhealth.gnb.ca) — it is for new applicants, not death notifications. Request the DH-2026 "Updates and Changes Form" by email or phone, complete it, and return it as a PDF email to [email protected].

Processing takes four to six weeks. Keep the form submission confirmation.

CRA: 1-800-387-1193 Purpose: Notify CRA of the death to update the deceased's tax account and trigger a reassessment of the surviving spouse's household income for benefits like the GST/HST credit, the GIS, and the OAS Allowance for the Survivor.

What to have ready: date of death, deceased's SIN, your SIN, and your address. CRA will update their records and send correspondence about filing the deceased's final tax return (due April 30 of the following year, or six months from the date of death if the deceased had self-employment income).

Priority 4 — Pension Administrators and Property Programs

Vestcor (NB Public Service Pension Plan): 506-453-2296 If the deceased was an NB public servant, notify Vestcor to initiate the survivor pension process. They will send the required forms (including the Statutory Declaration of Marriage, Form SD1). Processing for the survivor pension application takes approximately 43 days.

SNB Regional Assessment Office (property tax programs) If you own your home and want to continue the Property Tax Deferral Program (if the deceased was enrolled) or apply for the Enhanced Property Tax Allowance, contact the SNB Regional Assessment Office for your area. The deferral continuation deadline is December 31.

WorkSafeNB: 1-800-999-9775 If the death was work-related, contact WorkSafeNB Benefit Payment Services immediately to initiate a survivor benefits claim. Do not wait for CPP or other programs to be settled first — WorkSafeNB has its own timeline and the sooner you file, the sooner payments begin.

A Simple Tracking System

With multiple agencies to contact, keep a log: agency name, date called, agent's name, and reference number. Keep copies of every form you submit and every confirmation email. Bureaucratic errors are common — a paper trail protects you if an agency claims they never received your notification.

What Happens If You Miss a Notification

Service Canada (overpaid pensions): If you discover that the deceased's pension continued after death without notification, call immediately. Service Canada has a formal repayment process and will work out a repayment schedule if a lump sum is not possible. The longer you wait, the larger the repayment demand.

Medicare: Delayed cancellation rarely results in financial harm, but it creates identity theft vulnerability. Cancel as soon as you have the death certificate.

CRA: Failure to notify CRA does not result in immediate penalties, but it delays the reassessment of survivor benefits and can result in incorrect GST/HST credits or OAS amounts being calculated based on stale household income data.

Coordinating notifications across six or more agencies while grieving is genuinely difficult. The New Brunswick Survivor Benefits Navigator includes pre-written notification scripts for each agency, a complete contact directory with phone numbers and addresses, and a sequenced master checklist that ensures nothing falls through the cracks in the critical first 30 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need the death certificate before I can start calling agencies? For stopping payments, most agencies will accept verbal notification immediately with the date of death and SIN. However, to open survivor benefit files and submit formal paperwork, you will need certified death certificates. Order them on day one using the expedited SNB service.

Can I report the death to multiple agencies in one call? No. Each federal and provincial agency maintains its own records and cannot share information on your behalf. Each requires a separate notification.

How do I notify the bank? Banks are not government agencies, but they are equally important. Present the death certificate at the deceased's home branch and ask to update the account status. Joint accounts transfer automatically with the death certificate; sole-owner accounts will be frozen until probate or the small estate process is complete.

What about Canada Post? Contact Canada Post to redirect mail to your address. This helps catch statements from unknown accounts or pension payments that need to be returned.

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