Post Office Savings Bank Regulations

The Post Office Savings Bank Regulations These Regulations may be cited as the Post Office Savings Bank Regulations. In these Regulations, account means the accounting record kept at Head Office of all Bank transactions by a depositor with the Bank and of the interest earned by his deposits; [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 1] Act means the Post Office Act; Bank means the Post Office Savings Bank; deposit means a deposit of money by or on behalf of a depositor in the Bank; depositor means a person who has an account in the Bank; Director means the Director of Accounting, Canada Post Corporation; Head Office means the Central Office of the Bank at Ottawa; pass-book means the book issued to a depositor in which a depositor’s deposits, withdrawals and interest are recorded; and withdrawal means a withdrawal of money from the Bank by a depositor; and other terms and expressions in these Regulations have the meaning ascribed to them in the Act. The Director shall administer and control the activities, transactions and operation of the Bank and shall maintain the records of accounts thereof. The Director shall subject to paragraph (b), allow the closing of any account upon demand from the depositor or any person legally authorized to claim on his behalf; transfer to the Receiver General, at the end of each fiscal year, unclaimed balances of accounts of less than $25 in respect of which, for a period of thirty years, no transaction has taken place and no statement of account has been requested by or on behalf of the depositor; maintain, indefinitely, accounts of $25 and over; and carry out any operation incidental to the actions referred to paragraphs (a), (b) and (c). [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 4] The hours of business of the Bank shall be the hours of business of the Canada Post Corporation and such exceptional hours as may be prescribed by the Director. [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 5] Subject to subsections (2) to (4), the Director shall maintain accounts as follows: “Individual Personal Accounts” in the names of individual depositors; “Trust Accounts” in the name of one or more persons in trust for some specified person or persons; “Joint Accounts — All to Withdraw” in which two or more persons have made deposits in their joint names; “Joint Accounts — Any to Withdraw” in which deposits have been made in the joint names of two or more persons; and “Incorporated or Unincorporated Societies’ Accounts” in which clubs, schools, churches, savings or credit unions, cemetery companies, estates or provident or charitable institutions have made deposits. Every application for withdrawal from an account described in paragraph (c) of subsection (1) shall be made jointly by all the persons in whose names the account stands. Every application for withdrawal from an account described in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) may be made by any of the persons in whose names the account stands. At the death of any of the persons in whose names an account described in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (1) stands, control of the account shall be transferred to the survivor or survivors upon production of the pass-book together with evidence, satisfactory to the Director, of the death of the deceased joint depositor, and the identity of the survivor or survivors. Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the Director may destroy books, records, documents, vouchers, paid instruments and papers relating to any account where they are dated, or were in existence or contain entries or writings made more than fifteen years prior to their destruction. Every signature declaration and signing authority relating to any account of which the balance is less than $25 and the Bank’s records showing such a balance shall be retained until the balance is transferred to the Receiver General pursuant to paragraph (b) of section 4. The Director shall not destroy any signature declaration or signing authority relating to an account of which the balance is $25 or more or the Bank’s records showing such a balance. [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 6] When any change occurs in a depositor’s name he shall notify the change to the Director and submit such evidence of change of name as the Director may require. A depositor shall, at the request of the Director produce for his inspection any pass-book issued to that depositor. A depositor shall, when requesting to close his account, send to the Director the pass-book issued to him in respect of the account. In the case of loss of a pass-book, the depositor shall notify the Director without delay of the loss, stating where and approximately when the first and last deposits and the last withdrawal were made, and giving as much information as possible concerning the account and the circumstances of the loss; and sign an undertaking to return to the Director the lost pass-book if it should be recovered, and indemnify the Canada Post Corporation against any misuse of the lost pass-book. A withdrawal may only be made at the Head Office; and on presentation of a passbook or such other evidence of the right to make the withdrawal as may be acceptable to the Director. An account shall be closed upon the withdrawal of the full amount of the account. The wife or husband of a deceased depositor whose deposit did not exceed $50 at the date of the depositor’s death may withdraw the deposit upon the production to the Director of a signed request for the deposit; the deceased depositor’s pass-book or a declaration of its loss and an undertaking to surrender it, if and when the same is recovered, and to indemnify the Bank against any misuse of the pass-book; proof satisfactory to the Director of the depositor’s death; and of marital relationship. Any person other than the persons specified in subsection (3) may withdraw a deposit of a deceased depositor if such deposit did not exceed $500 at the date of the depositor’s death, upon the production to the Director of the claimant’s legal authority to claim the deposit; an authenticated or notarial copy of the last will of the deceased depositor, if any; a written statement setting forth that it is not proposed to apply for Letters of Probate of the deceased depositor’s last will, or for Letters of Administration of his estate, or for an Act of Curatorship or Tutorship, as the case may be; a statutory declaration and indemnity agreement executed in the form and manner prescribed by the Director with releases of all claims in respect of the deposit signed by all other beneficiaries named in the last will or by all other persons entitled to share in the estate on intestacy where there is no will; and of a bond of indemnity with two sureties for twice the amount of the deposit and accrued interest thereon where the Director considers it advisable that such further safeguard be provided. The wife, husband, child, father, mother, brother or sister of a deceased depositor may withdraw his deposit if such deposit did not exceed $2,500 at the date of the depositor’s death upon the production to the Director of the documents mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (g) of subsection (2). The executor, administrator, trustee, tutor or curator of the estate of a deceased depositor may withdraw the depositor’s deposit upon the production to the Director of the deceased depositor’s pass-book or a declaration of its loss and and undertaking to surrender it, if and when the same is recovered, and to indemnify the Bank against any misuse of the pass-book; proof satisfactory to the Director of the depositor’s death; and of such of the documents specified in subsection (5) as may be applicable to the case. The executor, administrator, trustee, tutor or curator, as the case may be, of a deceased depositor’s estate, shall produce to the Director such of the following documents as the Director may require, and any such document may be retained by the Director: an authenticated or notarial copy of the probate of the will of the deceased depositor, or Letters of Administration of his estate, or of the Act of Curatorship or Tutorship, granted by any court in Canada having power to grant the same; an authentic notarial copy of the will of the deceased depositor, if such will is in notarial form according to the law of the Province of Quebec; or if the deceased depositor died outside of Canada, an authenticated or notarial copy of the Probate of his will, or of Letters of Administration of his property, or other documents of like import satisfactory to the Director, granted by any court or authority having the requisite power in such matters; and the production of such document or documents shall be sufficient justification and authority to the Director for paying such deposit to the executor, administrator, trustee, tutor or curator, as the case may be. A deceased depositor’s deposits withdrawn under the provision of this section may, in any of the cases provided for by subsections (1), (2) or (3), be paid by cheque payable to the person or persons legally authorized to claim for the same; and shall, in the case of subsection (4), be paid by cheque payable to the estate of the deceased depositor. The Director may apply the provisions of subsections (1) to (6) for the disposal of a deceased depositor’s deposit notwithstanding the legitimacy or illegitimacy of such deceased depositor or of his heirs or of any one of them. Where a depositor becomes insane or otherwise incapacitated to act, and such incapacity is proved to the satisfaction of the Director, and he is satisfied of the urgency of the case, he may authorize payment, from time to time, out of the deposits of such depositor, to any person whom he shall judge proper, and the receipt of such person shall be a good discharge of the same. If any depositor is of unsound mind or under any other legal disability, anything which, under these regulations, is required or authorized to be done by or to the depositor shall or may be done by or to the committee or other person empowered by law to administer his estate. [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 10] The prescribed identification information shall be given by such committee or other person who shall specify the capacity in which it or he acts. Any application for the withdrawal of the deposits shall be made by such committee or other person. Where a depositor is of unsound mind and no committee or other person empowered by law to administer his estate has been appointed, the Director may, when it is proved to his satisfaction that it is just and expedient so to do, pay the deposits standing in the name of the depositor, or any part thereof, to any person whom he shall judge proper to receive the same. Nothing in these Regulations shall prejudice the right of the Director to require evidence to be given to his satisfaction of the identity of any person; the title or authority of any person to withdraw any deposits; that anything purporting to be done pursuant to these Regulations has been duly done; and with respect to any other matters on which the due exercise of his powers or performance of his duties under these Regulations depends. The Director may, for the purpose of obtaining any evidence referred to in subsection (1), require a statutory declaration to be made by any person. [Repealed, SOR/71-176, s. 11] The Director may charge, for the keeping of any depositor’s account, service charges at such rates as may be approved by the Canada Post Corporation. [Repealed, SOR/81-843, s. 2] Subject to the provisions of these regulations, these regulations shall apply to all sums standing to the credit of any account open in the Bank, provided that anything had or done by or in accordance with the directions of the Postmaster General or the Director with respect to deposits made before the coming into force of these regulations, if had or done in accordance with the regulations hereby repealed, shall be deemed to have been lawfully had or done notwithstanding that the provisions of these regulations were not complied with.