How to Complete and File Alberta Form 10: Pension Partner Waiver

The Alberta Form 10 pension partner waiver is what your spouse or adult interdependent partner signs so you can move a Locked-In Retirement Account into a Life Income Fund instead of buying the default 60% joint and survivor annuity. To be valid, the partner must sign it in front of an unrelated witness while you are not in the room, and the completed form must reach the LIRA issuer no more than 90 days before the LIF is established.¹ The form is governed by Section 131(2) of the Employment Pension Plans Regulation.

When You Need Form 10

Under Alberta’s Employment Pension Plans Act, a LIRA owner with a pension partner is entitled by default to a 60% joint and survivor annuity, a lifetime pension that continues paying at least 60% of the monthly amount to the surviving partner after the member dies. A LIF works differently. It holds the locked-in money in an investment account, and the owner draws income within annual minimum and maximum limits. Because a LIF does not guarantee lifetime payments the way an annuity does, the pension partner has to formally agree to give up the annuity option before the LIRA issuer will convert the account.¹

“Pension partner” in Alberta covers two situations: a person legally married to the member, or a person who has lived with the member in a relationship of interdependence for a continuous period of at least three years, including adults who have entered into an Adult Interdependent Partner agreement under the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act. If there is no pension partner on the LIF establishment date, Form 10 is not required.

One boundary to note. Form 10 covers the LIRA-to-LIF conversion only. Alberta uses a separate numbered form for each pension waiver transaction, so signing Form 4, 11, 15, or 16 in place of Form 10 will not work.²

What Signing Form 10 Actually Does

Signing Form 10 means the pension partner agrees to let the member set up a LIF rather than purchase the 60% joint and survivor annuity. The practical difference matters. An annuity guarantees income for both lives, first the member’s and then the partner’s at no less than 60% of the original amount. A LIF holds the money in an investment account that can grow or shrink with the market, and the owner draws income from it within regulated limits. If the investments perform poorly, or the owner draws the maximum each year, the balance could be substantially smaller than what an annuity would have paid over a lifetime.¹

Signing does not eliminate the partner’s right to whatever is left in the LIF if the member dies first. Under Alberta’s LIF rules, the LIF issuer must pay the remaining balance as a lump sum to the surviving pension partner.³ Giving up that death benefit requires a separate document, Form 16. So Form 10 changes the vehicle from annuity to LIF and leaves the survivor death benefit intact unless another waiver is signed later.

Completing the Form

Download Form 10 from alberta.ca/pensions-forms, or request a copy from the LIRA issuer, meaning the bank, credit union, or investment firm holding the locked-in account.² It has three parts: account identification, the pension partner’s statement, and the witness certification.

Member and Account Information

Fill in the full legal name of the pension partner and the full legal name of the LIRA member owner, then the name of the LIRA issuer. Use the exact issuer name that appears on the account statements, not an abbreviation or informal version. If the issuer’s name is wrong, the form may be returned.

Pension Partner Statement

The core of the form is a set of certifications the pension partner (not the member) signs. By signing, the partner confirms all of the following:¹

They have read the waiver and understand it, including the potential consequences of signing.
They have seen a current statement of the member owner’s LIRA account balance and understand how the decision could affect any benefit they are entitled to.
They are signing of their own free will.
The member owner is not in the room while they are signing.
They understand the form gives only a general description of their legal rights, and that reading the legislation or consulting a pension professional may be necessary to understand exact rights.
The information they provided is true, and they will notify the LIRA issuer if anything changes.
They are aware they are entitled to a copy of the completed waiver.

The partner also provides an address and telephone number, then signs and dates the form. The date format specified on the form is month-day-year.

Witness Requirements

The witness rules are stricter than most people expect. The witness must meet two conditions: they cannot be related to the pension partner, and they must watch the pension partner sign the form while the member owner is absent.¹ A friend, coworker, or neighbour with no family connection to the pension partner works. So does a notary public or lawyer, though neither is required.

The witness fills in a printed name, address, telephone number, signature, and the date they observed the signing. If the member owner was present during the signing, or the witness turns out to be a relative of the pension partner, the form is invalid. Plan the logistics ahead of time. The member should leave the room, or the signing should happen at a separate location, so the “member absent” certification is truthful.

Filing With the LIRA Issuer

The completed and witnessed form goes to the LIRA issuer. Not the pension plan administrator, and not the Alberta Superintendent of Pensions. File it no more than 90 days before the LIF establishment date. A form signed and filed earlier than 90 days before that date is not valid, and the issuer will reject it.¹

Contact the issuer to confirm how they want the form delivered. Some accept a secure upload through their online portal; others require the original paper form by mail or in person. If you mail it, use registered or tracked mail so you have proof of delivery inside the 90-day window. Keep a copy. Both the member and the pension partner should retain one.

Once the issuer receives and approves the form, they will process the LIRA-to-LIF conversion. Common reasons a form gets sent back include a wrong issuer name, missing witness details, and a signing date outside the 90-day window. Because the window is tight, submit well before the establishment date but not so early that the form ages out. That gives you time to fix errors without missing the deadline.

What Happens After the LIF Is Set Up

After the LIF is established, the pension partner still has the right to receive whatever remains in the account as a lump sum if the member owner dies. The LIF issuer must pay that amount to the surviving pension partner unless the partner has also signed Form 16, which separately waives the death benefit.³

What the partner receives, though, is whatever the LIF is worth at that moment. That depends on investment performance and how much income the owner has withdrawn over the years. Unlike the 60% survivor annuity, which pays a fixed lifetime amount, the LIF death benefit is simply the remaining balance. That gap is the trade-off the pension partner accepts by signing Form 10.

1
Government of Alberta. Alberta Form 10 Pension Partner Waiver to Establish a Life Income Fund from a Locked-In Retirement Account
2
Government of Alberta. Pensions – Forms
3
BMO InvestorLine. Supplementary Terms for Life Income Fund (LIF)