Naming a minor child as beneficiary in Canada: why a trustee matters

Fine print, translated · By Penny Hughes · Published October 28, 2026 · Last updated October 28, 2026

Can a child be named as a life insurance beneficiary, and still not be the person the money can actually be paid to? Yes — and that gap between naming and paying is where this topic is usually explained too late. A designation names who the benefit is for. It does not, on its own, solve who can legally receive it while that person is still a minor.

Three ways the same designation can play out

The comparison is the decision in miniature. Naming the child is not the hard part. Choosing the middle row by accident — naming the child and stopping there — is what creates the court process the other rows are trying to avoid.

Why an insurer cannot simply pay a minor

An insurer cannot pay a minor directly because a minor cannot give a valid receipt for the money. A payment is not complete until someone can give the insurer a valid discharge — a legally effective receipt — and a minor cannot provide one.

Ontario's Insurance Act makes the fallback explicit. Under section 220(1), the insurer must pay the proceeds into court within 30 days if nobody can give a valid discharge. Separately, published guidance for Ontario says that where no trustee is named and a child receives more than $35,000, the proceeds may be paid into court until the age of majority. Court-held money, and money held through a public trustee process, involves time and fees, and the family does not control when or how it is released.

The provincial differences, side by side

Age and administration differ by province, which is why a rule quoted for one province should not be carried into another.

Provinces not listed here were not covered in the sources retrieved for this article. That is a gap to close with a licensed professional or lawyer in the relevant province, not a gap to fill by analogy.

Appointing a trustee in the designation

In Ontario, appointing a trustee under section 193(1) of the Insurance Act is the documented way to avoid payment into court. A related distinction matters: a beneficiary designation, not a trust, is what keeps the proceeds out of probate. The trustee step and the designation step work together — the designation directs the benefit, and the trustee gives the insurer someone who can receive it for the child.

1. Decide who would actually manage money for the child — a specific person, chosen for willingness and steadiness, not named as a courtesy.
2. Ask for the trustee appointment to be included in the beneficiary designation itself, and confirm which provincial provision the form is using. In Ontario that provision is s. 193(1).
3. Name the child as beneficiary and the chosen person as trustee for that child on the same designation, and check the exact names before signing.
4. Keep a copy of the signed designation with the policy, and tell the trustee where it is.
5. Review the designation after major life changes, so the trustee named is still the right person.

What success looks like: the designation on file names both the child and a trustee for the child, the trustee knows about the appointment, and the insurer has a person who can give a valid discharge — so the court route is not the default.

Two traps that naming alone creates

The first trap is naming a minor as an irrevocable beneficiary. An irrevocable designation normally needs the beneficiary's consent for later changes, and a minor cannot give that consent. Published guidance warns of exactly this result, and McGill's benefits guidance puts it plainly: a minor named as irrevocable beneficiary automatically freezes the policy until the age of majority. Changes the owner may need — a new beneficiary, a policy change requiring consent — are blocked for years.

The second trap is avoiding the first problem by naming the estate instead. That exposes the death benefit to provincial estate charges and to creditors, and it gives up the directness a named-beneficiary designation provides. It solves the receipt problem by creating a cost and exposure problem.

The birthday problem at the end of every route

Every holding route described above ends at the age of majority. Money paid into court in Ontario may be held until that age; money held by the Public Guardian and Trustee of BC is held until 19. Holding solves the childhood years. It does not, on its own, stage the money across early adulthood, add conditions, or spread access over time.

So the decision framework has two questions, not one. First: who can receive the money if a claim happens while the child is a minor — trustee, court, or public trustee? Second: is handing over full control at the age of majority the intended outcome, or does this family need legal advice about a structure that stages access? The first question is answered on the designation form. The second is a legal question, and it should be asked while the designation is being set up — not discovered on a birthday.

— Penny Hughes, Money Writer — Saving Desk