Judges Act — J-1 51
Return of contributions if no annuity 51 (1) If a judge has ceased to hold office otherwise than by reason of death and, at the time he or she ceased to hold office, no annuity under this Act was granted or could be paid to that judge, there shall be paid to the judge, in respect of his or her having ceased to hold that office, an amount equal to the total contributions made by him or her under subsection 50(1) or paragraph 50(2)(a), together with interest, if any, calculated in accordance with subsection (4). Return of contributions if annuity (2) If a judge to whom subsection 50(1) applies has ceased to hold office otherwise than by reason of death and that judge is granted or paid an annuity under this Act, there shall be paid to the judge in respect of his or her having ceased to hold that office an amount equal to the total contributions made by the judge under subsection 50(1), together with interest, if any, calculated in accordance with subsection (4), if, (a) at the time the judge ceased to hold office, there is no person to whom an annuity under this Act could be paid in respect of the judge on his or her death; or (b) at any time after the judge ceased to hold office but before his or her death, all persons to whom an annuity under this Act could be paid in respect of the judge on his or her death have died or ceased to be eligible to be paid an annuity. Death benefit (3) Where, on or at any time after the death of a judge who died while holding office, or the death of a judge who died after ceasing to hold office but to whom no amount has been paid under subsection (1) or (2), there is no person or there is no longer any person to whom an annuity under this Act may be paid in respect of the judge, any amount by which (a) the total contributions made by the judge under subsection 50(1) or paragraph 50(2)(a), together with interest, if any, calculated pursuant to subsection (4), exceeds (b) the total amount, if any, paid to or in respect of the judge as annuity payments under this Act, shall thereupon be paid as a death benefit to the estate of the judge or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct. Interest on payments and amounts of contributions (4) Where an amount becomes payable under subsection (1), (2) or (3) in respect of contributions made by a judge under subsection 50(1) or paragraph 50(2)(a), the Minister shall (a) determine the total amount of contributions that have been made under that provision by the judge in respect of each year, in this subsection called a “contribution year”, in which contributions were made by the judge; and (b) calculate interest on the amount determined under paragraph (a) in respect of each contribution year, compounded annually, (i) in respect of each contribution year before 1997, (A) at the rate of four per cent from December 31 of the contribution year to December 31, 1996, and (B) at the rate prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister of National Revenue as refunds of overpayments of tax under that Act in effect from time to time, from December 31, 1996 to December 31 of the year immediately before the year in which the amount in respect of contributions made by the judge becomes payable, and (ii) in respect of the 1997 contribution year and each contribution year after 1997, at the rate mentioned in clause (i)(B) from December 31 of the contribution year to December 31 of the year immediately before the year in which the amount in respect of contributions made by the judge becomes payable. R.S., 1985, c. J-1, s. 51; 1998, c. 30, s. 9; 2002, c. 8, ss. 100(E), 111(E) 2017, c. 33, s. 249(E) 2023, c. 18, s. 13