Can Siblings Share an RESP in Canada? Family RESPs Explained

A family RESP lets one plan save for several children at once. The money is pooled, and whichever child goes on to post-secondary school can use it. This page covers who can be in a family plan, how the grants are tracked and shared, and when separate individual plans are the better fit. The account basics are in the complete RESP guide, and every related guide is listed in the RESP hub.

Individual and family plans compared

“Blood or adoption” covers children (including stepchildren), grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and other direct descendants. Nieces and nephews don’t qualify, so an aunt or uncle uses an individual plan.

How grants work in a shared plan

The money is pooled for investing, but the grants are tracked child by child:

• Contributions are assigned to a child. When you contribute, you tell the provider which beneficiary it is for, and the CESG is calculated on that child’s contributions and grant room.
• Each child has their own limits. Up to $500 of basic CESG a year, up to $1,000 with unused room, and $7,200 over the child’s lifetime.
• Grant can be shared between brothers and sisters. When one child doesn’t go to school, grant paid for them can be paid out to a sibling on the plan, as long as no student receives more than the $7,200 lifetime limit in CESG. In a family plan that includes cousins, such as a grandparent’s plan, the basic CESG can still be shared among all the beneficiaries; what the plan can’t receive is the Additional CESG, the Canada Learning Bond or BC’s BCTESG.

Assigning contributions strategically

Being able to choose which child a contribution counts for helps when children are different ages. Say a family has a 10-year-old who has never had grant and a 2-year-old, and $5,000 to put in this year. Assigning it all to the 10-year-old uses their unused room at the catch-up pace, since they have fewer grant years left; the younger child’s room will still be there later. How the catch-up works is explained in our guide to maximising the CESG.

The contribution limit in a family plan

The $50,000 limit applies to each child, not to the plan, so a family plan for two children can receive up to $100,000 in total. Each child’s limit also counts any other RESP naming them, such as a grandparent’s plan. Going over it triggers a monthly tax, explained in our RESP overcontribution guide.

Adding a new child

A new brother or sister can join an existing family plan:

1. Ask the provider to add a beneficiary.
2. Provide the child’s Social Insurance Number (needed for the grants).
3. Start assigning contributions to the new child.

When one child uses more than their share

This is where a family plan earns its keep. If one child takes a long program and another doesn’t go to school, the one in school can draw more than was saved for them: the investment money is shared, and grant can move between brothers and sisters up to each student’s lifetime limit. With separate individual plans, the same result needs a formal beneficiary change, with its own grant rules, explained in changing an RESP beneficiary.

If no child on the plan goes on to school (the full set of options is in what happens if your child doesn’t go to university) and no one uses the grants, they go back to the government when the plan closes, and the investment income is paid to the subscriber as an accumulated income payment, part of which can be rolled into an RRSP; our page on transferring an RESP to an RRSP covers that route.

Who can open a family plan

A family plan in which every beneficiary is a sibling can receive the Additional CESG, the Canada Learning Bond and BC’s BCTESG; a plan that includes cousins can’t. Adding a beneficiary who isn’t a sibling of those already named means repaying any Additional CESG (together with the rest of the plan’s CESG), Canada Learning Bond or BCTESG already paid in, so a grandparent with grandchildren in more than one family can open a separate family plan for each set of siblings.

When parents separate, a joint family plan can be harder to manage; see RESPs for divorced parents.