Generally speaking, any money transferred from a registered pension plan into a locked-in account (locked-in retirement account (LIRA), life income find (LIF) or locked-in retirement income fund (LRIF)) must remain "locked-in" and can only be used to provide retirement income.
In certain situations, however, it is possible to apply for special access to money in an Ontario LIRA, LIF or LRIF. Applications for special access may be made in the following situations, using the specified FSCO pension form:
- you are facing specific types of financial hardship - Form 6
- you have an expected income of $34,067 or less (for applications signed in 2013) - Form 6 or Form 6.1
For free help filling out Form 6 or Form 6.1, contact the Financial Services Commission of Ontario at:
416-250-7250 or toll free at 1-800-668-0128
For live assistance with Financial Hardship Unlocking please use our live chat feature:
Financial hardship applications using Form 6 or Form 6.1 are made directly to the Superintendent of Financial Services at the address listed in the forms. For these applications, successful applicants were charged an application fee in order to offset FSCO's administrative costs. For applications approved on and after April 1, 2009, the Government of Ontario has waived this fee.
A word of caution: