BC Court of Appeal confirms LIF payments may be forfeited in Securities Act enforcement
May 12, 2026
The British Columbia Court of Appeal (the “Court”) has confirmed that payments made from life income funds (“LIFs”) may be forfeited to satisfy enforcement orders under the BC Securities Act.
The appellant failed to pay monetary sanctions imposed under the Securities Act. The BC Securities Commission (the “Commission”) sought forfeiture of payments from the LIFs rather than the accounts themselves.
In an earlier decision, the Court held that LIF accounts were exempt from seizure or attachment under the BC Pension Benefits Standards Act (the “PBSA”). Thereafter, BC government amended the PBSA to allow “any payment in the series of payments that constitutes a pension” to be attached by a preservation or forfeiture order under the Securities Act. The Commission then sought forfeiture of the payments from the LIF, rather than the LIF accounts themselves.
On appeal, the appellant argued that LIF payments were exempt from such seizure or attachment under Section 70(1) of the PBSA as either “benefits” or “money transferred under Division 7” of the PBSA, and relied on earlier appellate authority addressing preservation orders over LIF accounts. The Commission maintained that the statutory exemptions did not apply to payments made from LIFs in the context of Securities Act enforcement.
The Court dismissed the appeal, holding that payments from a LIF to a retiree are not “benefits” as defined in the PBSA and are not transfers under Division 7, which governs commuted value transfers rather than ongoing income payments. As a result, the exemptions in s. 70(1) did not apply, and the forfeiture order was upheld. The Court also declined to appoint a receiver, finding no evidence that the forfeiture order against the LIF issuer would be ineffective or that broader control over the accounts was warranted to secure those payments.
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