Law Commission of Ontario Launches New Project on Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs)

The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) is beginning a new project at
the request of the Ontario government to address how adults with developmental
or mental disabilities might be better enabled to participate in the federal
Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) created by the federal government
without an expensive competency assessment.  The RDSP is a savings vehicle
to provide future support for persons with disabilities. Parents or guardians
may open an RDSP for a child. However, adults with intellectual disabilities
and others whose competence may be an issue may face challenges in opening or
withdrawing from an RDSP without undergoing an expensive and lengthy competency
process. “We are extremely pleased to be asked by the Ontario government to
undertake this project,” said Professor Bruce P. Elman, Chair of the LCO Board
of Governors. “It reflects recognition of the high quality of the LCO’s work
and its contribution to law reform in the province.” The LCO will draw on work
in two prior projects in which it has released final reports, its Framework for
the Law as It Affects Older Adults, and its Framework for the Law as It Affects
Persons with Disabilities. It is currently undertaking a large project on
capacity, decision-making, and guardianship from which the RDSP project will
benefit. The LCO will also call on the relationships with legal and academic
experts and community members developed in the process of the older adults,
persons with disabilities projects and capacity projects.

Source/more: Law Commission of Ontario