Death in a road accident: the SAAQ's death indemnities

A death on the road is one of the rare situations in which a public plan pays out a substantial sum. We are talking about tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars — nothing like the QPP death benefit, capped at $2,500.

But that sum is neither automatic nor uniform. It depends on the deceased's income, on the presence of a spouse in the precise sense the law gives that word, and on the age of the dependants. And above all: what the SAAQ (Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, the province's public auto insurer) pays is all there will be. Nobody can sue the driver at fault to obtain more.

A no-fault plan

According to the SAAQ, all Québec residents are covered for injuries sustained in a road accident, anywhere in the world, regardless of their responsibility for that accident. Section 5 of the Loi sur l'assurance automobile (Québec's Automobile Insurance Act) puts it this way: indemnities are granted "regardless of who is at fault."

This also applies to a pedestrian or a cyclist struck by a car, Éducaloi points out, and to a person who has never held a driver's licence.

The trade-off in this plan is rarely explained to families at the moment it matters. Éducaloi sums it up bluntly: you will be compensated whether or not you are responsible for the accident, and you will not be able to sue or be sued in court for the bodily injury caused. Put another way, if the SAAQ indemnity is not enough to replace the income the family has just lost, there is no second door through the courts.

The indemnity paid to the spouse

This is the largest amount in the plan, and it is calculated one way only.

According to the SAAQ's Tableau des indemnités de décès 2026 (2026 death indemnity table) — applicable to accidents and deaths occurring between January 1 and December 31, 2026 — the lump-sum death indemnity paid to the spouse is the deceased's gross income multiplied by 5. The maximum eligible gross income is $102,500. In no case can the indemnity be less than $172,914 or more than $512,500.

The SAAQ itself gives three examples in that table:

Deceased's annual gross income	Indemnity paid to the spouse
$20,000	$172,914 (the floor applies)
$40,000	$200,000
$110,000	$512,500 (the cap applies)

Two remarks are in order. First, the floor protects the spouses of people with low incomes or no employment income: gross income of $20,000 would produce $100,000 under the formula, but the indemnity is raised to $172,914. Second, these amounts are revalued each year by the SAAQ, which publishes a new table at the start of every year. The amounts for a death that occurred in 2024 are not those of 2026.

Who counts as a "spouse" in the eyes of the law

This question decides everything, and the definition is not the everyday one.

Section 2 of the Loi sur l'assurance automobile, consulted on LégisQuébec, defines the spouse as the person bound to the victim by marriage or a civil union and cohabiting with them, or else the person who has been living in a conjugal relationship with the victim and publicly represented as their spouse for at least three years. That period drops to one year in three cases: a child is born or to be born of their union, the spouses have adopted a child together, or one has adopted the other's child.

A de facto spouse therefore has a full right to the SAAQ death indemnity — a notable difference from succession law, where a de facto spouse does not inherit automatically. But three years of living together are required, or one year if there is a child. A couple who have lived together for two years with no child falls through the cracks.

Dependants

The indemnity paid to dependants other than the spouse is calculated according to their age at the time of the death. The younger the child, the higher the amount. Here are a few reference points drawn from the Tableau des indemnités de décès 2026:

Dependant's age	Amount
Under one year	$77,219
5 years	$66,184
10 years	$55,154
16 years or over	$41,914

The SAAQ adds two important rules. A dependant other than the spouse who is disabled on the date of death is entitled to an additional lump-sum indemnity of $36,400. And the children of a victim with no spouse are entitled, on top of their own indemnity, to the lump-sum indemnity that would have been paid to a spouse, divided in equal shares.

The notion of a dependant is likewise defined in section 2 of the Act. It covers the spouse, a former spouse receiving support payments, minor children, and adult children and other relatives for whom the victim was covering more than 50% of basic needs and maintenance costs.

If there is neither a spouse nor a dependant

The plan still provides for a payment. According to the SAAQ's 2026 table, a sum of $70,730 is paid in equal shares to the father and the mother if the victim was a minor on the date of death, or to the succession if the victim was an adult.

That detail has concrete consequences. Paid to the succession, this sum enters the deceased's patrimony: it serves first to pay debts, then it is divided according to the will or, failing that, according to the rules of legal devolution. It does not go directly to the person the deceased would have chosen. A life insurance product with a designated beneficiary works the opposite way: it is paid to the person named, outside the succession.

Funeral expenses: $8,727

The Tableau des indemnités de décès 2026 provides for a sum of $8,727 paid to the victim's succession to cover funeral expenses.

Set against the real cost of funerals in Québec, that is a serious amount. The Fédération des coopératives funéraires du Québec, citing a survey by the Corporation des thanatologues du Québec, puts the average cost of funeral expenses in Québec's private establishments at $5,700.

What else the SAAQ pays, and what it does not

Beyond the lump-sum indemnities, the SAAQ indicates that it reimburses up to 15 hours of psychological counselling for people who receive a death indemnity, provided the professional is a member of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec. It also provides an availability allowance — a maximum of $41 for availability of four hours or less, $82 for more than four hours according to the 2026 table — where the presence of a relative at the hospitalized victim's side was medically required. An indemnity to compensate for loss of quality of life may also be granted, but only if the death occurred more than 24 hours after the accident.

Conversely, section 10 of the Act rules out several situations people assume are covered: injury caused by a snowmobile or by a vehicle intended for use off public highways, an accident occurring off a public highway with a farm tractor or trailer, an accident tied to a race or demonstration on a closed course, and injury caused by a motorized bicycle or a motorized personal mobility device. In those cases, liability is settled under the ordinary rules of civil law.

The steps and the deadlines

Under section 11 of the Loi sur l'assurance automobile, the right to an indemnity is prescribed by three years, and in the case of a death indemnity that period runs from the death. The SAAQ repeats this three-year limit on its site.

The application is made online or by means of the Demande d'indemnité de décès (death indemnity application) form, after opening a file by telephone to obtain a claim number. The SAAQ asks for proof of the accident and proof of death, and, depending on the situation, an income attestation completed by the employer or, for a self-employed worker, the income tax returns and notices of assessment for the past three years.

One practical point that is often overlooked: the SAAQ specifies that the deceased's documents must also be cancelled — driver's licence, vehicle registration certificate, disabled parking permit.

Tax and seizure

On its indemnities, the SAAQ is clear: they are not taxable, but they can have repercussions on certain tax credits or social programs. Only the income replacement indemnity can be seized for the payment of support. Section 12 of the Act adds that any assignment of the right to an indemnity is absolutely null.

What is left to cover

The SAAQ death indemnity is generous compared with Québec's other public plans, but it answers one specific event: a road accident. It does nothing for a death from illness, from a workplace accident — that is the CNESST's territory — or for any of the other causes that carry off the great majority of Quebecers each year.

That is the limit of any public plan: it covers a risk, not a whole life. Individual life insurance, for its part, pays the sum insured to the designated beneficiary whatever the cause of death, subject to the conditions of the contract. Depending on the insurer and the situation, some products do not call for a medical exam. Criteria and timelines vary from one insurer to another.

Sources

• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, « Tableau des indemnités » (Tableau des indemnités 2026 et Tableau des indemnités de décès 2026) : https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/blob/saaq/documents/publications/tableau-indemnites.pdf (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, « En cas de décès dans un accident de la route » : https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/accident-route/deces (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, « Le régime public d'assurance automobile du Québec » : https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/accident-route/regime-public-assurance-automobile (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, « Ce qui est couvert et comment » : https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/accident-route/regime-public-assurance-automobile/couvert-comment (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, « Nouvelles dispositions du régime public d'assurance automobile et du Code de la sécurité routière » : https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/saaq/documentation/lois-reglements/nouvelles-dispositions-regime-public-assurance-automobile-code-securite-routiere (accessed August 10, 2026)
• LégisQuébec, Loi sur l'assurance automobile, RLRQ c. A-25, ss. 2, 5, 10, 11 and 12 : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/A-25 (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Éducaloi, « L'assurance automobile : ce que vous devez savoir » : https://educaloi.qc.ca/capsules/lassurance-automobile-ce-que-vous-devez-savoir/ (accessed August 10, 2026)
• Fédération des coopératives funéraires du Québec, « Combien ça coûte mourir? » : https://fcfq.coop/blog/nouvelles-6/combien-ca-coute-mourir-4166 (accessed August 10, 2026)