{"id":10014,"date":"2019-08-20T09:35:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T09:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grillo.ca\/does-ontario-auto-insurance-cover-dependent-relatives\/"},"modified":"2023-04-06T17:53:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T21:53:38","slug":"does-ontario-auto-insurance-cover-dependent-relatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grillo.ca\/zh-hans\/does-ontario-auto-insurance-cover-dependent-relatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Ontario Auto Insurance Cover Dependent Relatives?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The vehicle insurance industry is changing, offering customers more choices over the policies they choose and the specific premiums they pay. Effective from June 1st,\u202f2016, the Ontario government made some amendments to the vehicle insurance offers.<\/strong> These amendments were geared towards providing consumers with the flexibility they need to choose their preferred policies and the premiums they pay. The primary question is, \u201cdoes Ontario auto insurance cover dependent relatives?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Common
\nMost people in Ontario depend on one or more of their family members\u2019 vehicle insurance to cover them in case a car crash occurs. According to the Statutory Accident Benefits Rules, the term \u2018insured entity\u2019 includes all the “dependants of the mentioned person in the insurance paperwork or of his or her spouse.\u201d Note that the dependants don\u2019t need to be kids (minors). It can be any individual who is principally “dependent for care or financial support” on the insured or his or her partner.<\/p>\n

Generally, establishing who is and who isn\u2019t a dependent for auto insurance purposes is very tricky. For instance, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently made a decision regarding this case: two ladies were severely injured in a road accident involving a van on their way to Niagara Falls. During that period, the two women were living with their relatives. The question was, \u201cAre these ladies dependents of the relatives they lived with? If yes, which specific relative?\u201d<\/p>\n

To help you understand the case better, let\u2019s refer the first victim as a mother. She has five adult kids, including a grown son and daughter. Now, the mother\u2019s sister-in-law (the aunt) is married to the mother\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

Both the aunt and the mother lived with the mother\u2019s daughter and her family between September 2010 and December the same year. Unfortunately, the daughter divorced, and both the mother and aunt shifted to the son\u2019s place, and several weeks after, the Niagara Falls crash happened. As of that time, the aunt and the mother were living in the son\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

MVACF or the son\u2019s vehicle insurance: who should pay?<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s get a few things clear: the vehicle driven by the daughter\u2019s husband wasn\u2019t insured. Both the mother and aunt had no vehicle insurance of their own because they never owned a vehicle or acquired a driving license while in Canada. In this case, there were only two sources of benefits that could cover the women\u2019s injuries caused by the van crash. First source is the MVACF (Ontario Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund) and the second source is the son\u2019s vehicle insurance cover.<\/p>\n

Both the aunt and mother sought compensation under the son\u2019s auto insurance policy, claiming that they were his dependants in accordance with the Ontario law. The son\u2019s insurer offered statutory benefits. However, the company sought reimbursement from the Minister of Finance as they contested the women\u2019s status as dependents of the insured.<\/p>\n

This case was first submitted to arbitration. It was ruled out that the two ladies were not the son\u2019s dependants. Therefore, the MVACF was to be held responsible for the victim\u2019s statutory accident benefits.<\/p>\n

The appeal<\/h2>\n

The Minister of Finance appealed the arbitrator\u2019s ruling to the Ontario Superior Court. On 6th\u202fJuly 2018, Justice Andrew A. Sanfilippo ruled in favor of the Ministry. He argued that the aunt was a dependent of the insured but the mother wasn\u2019t. Based on the Ontario law, a dependant is an individual who \u2018primarily depends on the insured for care or financial support.\u2019<\/p>\n

Note that the arbitrator ruled that the aunt and mother were not the insured\u2019s dependents in terms of both care and financial support. The Ministry didn\u2019t appeal based on the care aspect. Thus, the primary question before Justice Andrew was whether or not either of the victims were financially dependent on the insured.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, the judge ruled in favor of the finance minister. He explained that the arbitrator should have followed two important steps. First, he or she should have analysed the plaintiffs\u2019 financial and other relevant needs to establish whether they can support themselves or must depend on someone financially. Secondly, if the two ladies were dependent on the son, the arbitration should have determined if there existed a principal dependency relationship at the time the accident happened.<\/p>\n

The primary point of contention was the acceptable \u2018period\u2019 necessary to determine the insured\u2019s financial relationship with the victims of the van accident. The judge held that the arbitrator had applied \u2018too long\u2019 a period and this had a significant effect on the overall analysis of the aunt\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

The timeframe for \u2018principal dependency\u2019<\/h2>\n

The arbitrator analysed the status of the aunt over a period of six months before the crash. She lived with the insured half of that period and the other three months with the daughter. Based on these details, the aunt was not principally dependent on the insured \u2013 the son.<\/p>\n

However, Justice Sanfilippo asserted this was a mistake because the arbitrator should have considered a shorter period before the crash. During that period, the aunt lived with the insured exclusively and depended on him financially because she didn\u2019t have her own income. The insurance company tried to argue that the aunt wasn\u2019t living with the insured permanently and could have gone back to the daughter\u2019s home if she reconciled with her husband. Besides, the trip was meant to facilitate reconciliation between the daughter and her husband. But the court saw limited relevance on these details.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is, what matters is the nature of the dependency relationship during the time of the accident. On that fateful day, the aunt was depending on the insured financially and the daughter didn\u2019t have a support plan for the aunt. On the other hand, the mother had a source of income at the time of the crash because she was receiving a monthly benefit of $1,150 offered by the Ontario Disability Support Program.<\/p>\n

Note that auto insurance disputes particularly those involving dependants can give rise to complicated legal and issues. It is highly recommend that you retain experienced attorney<\/a> on your side to pursue your claim and help you navigate through the legal process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The vehicle insurance industry is changing, offering customers more choices over the policies they choose and the specific premiums they pay. Effective from June 1st,\u202f2016, the Ontario government made some amendments to the vehicle insurance offers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false,"_pgmb_is_evergreen":false,"_pgmb_ap_template_id":0},"categories":[122,123],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDoes Ontario Auto Insurance Cover Dependent Relatives? | Grillo Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The vehicle insurance industry is changing, offering customers more choices over the policies they choose and the specific premiums they pay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/grillo.ca\/zh-hans\/does-ontario-auto-insurance-cover-dependent-relatives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long Term Disability Claims are on the Rise in Ontario\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long term disability incidences have been on the rise in Ontario. 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