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Life expectancy in British Columbia

This article was written by Michael Dew, a Vancouver lawyer who practices civil litigation. Click here for contact information and further details about Michael’s practice. This article provides only information, not legal advice. If you require legal advice you should consult a lawyer. 

Research articles : 
There are a number of situations in which courts in Canada may need to determine life expectancy for a particular person. For example, a stream of payments under pension may be a family asset which needs to be divided between the spouses when a division of assets is done upon the breakdown of a marriage, and the value of the asset will depend on the life expectancy of the spouse receiving the payments.
 
In some cases the litigants will lead expert evidence on life expectancy, especially where the life expectancy of the relevant person will not be similar to that of an average person of their age e.g. in serious personal injury cases.
 
In other cases, the life expectancy of the relevant person may be similar to that of other healthy individuals of their age. In such cases, the parties may wish to rely on standard statistics for life expectancies.
 
The British Columbia Land Titles has a formula (prescribed by regulation) which it applies when an individual who wishes to register a life estate as a charge against title. Life expectancy is one of the variables in the formula. The value used for life expectancy is that prescribed by the Property Transfer Tax Regulation, B.C. Reg. 74/88, enacted under the Property Transfer Tax Act R.S.B.C. 1996 c. 378. Counsel may wish to rely on those figures instead of calling expert evidence. Similar figures should be available for other Canadian provinces.
 
The following table provides the life expectancy figures in the Property Transfer Tax Regulation as of March 21, 2007:
Life Expectancy Table
AGE OF
TRANSFEREE
MALE LIFE
EXPECTANCY
FEMALE LIFE
EXPECTANCY
AGE OF
TRANSFEREE
MALE LIFE
EXPECTANCY
FEMALE LIFE
EXPECTANCY
0
71.88
78.98
28
45.99
52.30
1
71.67
78.65
29
45.05
51.33
2
70/73
77.70
30
44.11
50.36
3
69.77
76.74
31
43.17
49.39
4
68.80
75.77
32
42.22
48.42
5
67.84
74.79
33
41.28
47.45
6
66.86
73.81
34
40.34
46.48
7
65.88
72.83
35
39.39
45.51
8
64.90
71.84
36
38.45
44.55
9
63.91
70.86
37
37.52
43.59
10
62.92
69.87
38
36.58
42.63
11
61.94
68.88
39
35.65
41.68
12
60.95
67.90
40
34.72
40.73
13
59.97
66.91
41
33.80
39.78
14
59.00
65.93
42
32.88
38.84
15
58.04
64.95
43
31.97
37.90
16
57.10
63.97
44
31.06
36.97
17
56.16
63.00
45
30.16
36.04
18
55.23
62.02
46
29.27
35.11
19
54.31
62.05
47
28.39
34.19
20
53.39
60.08
48
27.52
33.28
21
52.47
59.11
49
26.66
32.37
22
51.55
58.14
50
25.81
31.47
23
50.63
57.16
51
24.97
30.57
24
49.71
56.19
52
24.14
29.68
25
48.78
55.22
53
23.33
28.80
26
47.86
54.25
54
22.52
27.93
27
46.92
53.27
55
21.73
27.06
56
20.95
26.20
79
7.25
9.39
57
20.18
25.35
80
6.85
8.84
58
19.43
24.51
81
6.48
8.32
59
18.69
23.68
82
6.12
7.82
60
17.96
22.85
83
5.78
7.34
61
17.25
22.03
84
5.45
6.88
62
16.56
21.22
85
5.14
6.45
63
15.88
20.42
86
4.85
6.04
64
15.21
19.63
87
4.57
5.65
65
14.57
18.85
88
4.30
5.28
66
13.93
18.09
89
4.05
4.93
67
13.32
17.33
90
3.82
4.60
68
12.72
16.59
91
3.59
4.29
69
12.14
15.86
92
3.38
3.99
70
11.58
15.14
93
3.19
3.71
71
11.03
14.44
94
2.96
3.39
72
10.49
13.75
95
2.65
2.99
73
9.98
13.08
96
2.27
2.51
74
9.48
12.42
97
1.84
1.99
75
9.00
11.78
98
1.41
1.50
76
8.53
11.15
99
1.05
1.10
77
8.09
10.54
100
0.79
0.81
78
7.66
9.95
101
0.60
0.61
 
 
 
102 or older
0.50
0.50