Hargrave
P.:—
This
application
arises
out
of
a
refusal
by
Vancouver
City
Savings
Credit
Union
to
collapse
a
Vancouver
City
Savings
Retirement
Plan,
which
is
an
RRSP
plan
and
to
transfer
the
assets
held
in
that
plan
to
the
Receiver
General
of
Canada
pursuant
to
a
writ
of
fieri
facias,
issued
on
April
28,
1993.
The
applicant
thus
requires
clarification
and
confirmation
of
the
scope
of
the
writ.
A
letter
from
Vancouver
City
Savings
Credit
Union,
dated
August
19,
1993,
to
Pacific
Court
Bailiff
Execution
Services
Inc.,
who
provide
civil
Sheriff
services
in
this
jurisdiction,
attached
to
the
affidavit
in
support
of
this
motion,
gives
as
a
reason
for
the
Credit
Union’s
refusal
that
an
RRSP
is
neither
goods
nor
chattels.
The
Credit
Union's
position
would,
many
years
ago,
have
been
a
correct
common
law
position.
The
law
has
been
modified
in
British
Columbia
by
what
is
now
section
52
of
the
Court
Order
Enforcement
Act,
R.S.B.C.
1979,
Ch.
75:
52.
Any
sheriff
or
other
officer
to
whom
any
writ
of
execution
is
directed
shall
seize
and
take
any
money
or
bank
notes,
and
any
cheques,
bills
of
exchange,
promissory
notes,
bonds,
specialties
or
other
securities
for
money,
belonging
to
the
execution
debtor,
and
may
ana
shall
pay
and
deliver
to
the
execution
creditor
any
money
or
bank
notes
which
are
seized,
or
a
sufficient
part
of
it;
and
shall
hold
any
cheques,
bills
of
exchange,
promissory
notes,
bonds,
specialties
or
other
securities
for
money
as
security
for
the
amount
by
the
writ
of
execution
directed
to
be
levied,
or
as
much
of
it
as
has
not
been
otherwise
levied
and
raised;
and
the
sheriff
or
other
officer
may
sue
in
his
own
name
for
the
recovery
of
the
sums
secured
by
it,
if
and
when
the
time
of
payment
of
it
has
arrived.
The
Credit
Union
is
incorrect
in
the
position
that
it
has
taken.
The
wording
of
section
52
is
broad
enough
to
include
an
RRSP:
RRSPs
are
subject
to
seizure
and
sale
pursuant
to
section
52
of
the
Court
Order
Enforcement
Act.'
I
have
granted
the
requested
order
in
this
instance.
However
I
also
wish
to
make
it
clear
to
institutions
holding
RRSP's
that
the
issue
of
exigibility
of
RRSP's
by
means
of
a
writ
of
fieri
facias
was
settled
several
years
ago
in
British
Columbia.
When
faced
with
a
writ
of
execution
delivered
by
a
Sheriff
or
other
competent
officer,
financial
institutions
should
deliver
up
such
RRSP
funds.
They
should
in
future
neither
expect
specific
orders
nor
force
the
holder
of
the
judgment
underlying
a
writ
of
execution
to
the
expense
of
obtaining
a
specific
order.
These
reasons
shall
also
be
the
reasons
in
files
ITA-7812-93
and
ITA-5216-91.
Order
accordingly.
Email this Content