On the death of a married person, his spouse is entitled to the payment of a survivor's pension paid by Social Security or the special scheme on which he was dependent if he occupied an agricultural, liberal, craft, commercial or religious activity. Conditions are required to obtain this pension. Who is concerned ? How do I apply for a survivor's pension? How much is it?
On the death of his or her spouse, each person is entitled to the payment of a survivor's pension , but under certain conditions. You must first have been married to the deceased spouse and the latter must either receive a pension or have contributed to it.
Couples in civil partnerships or cohabiting cannot claim this pension. Then, the surviving spouse must be at least 55 years old. For those whose husband or wife died before 2009, the request for a survivor's pension can be made from the age of 51.
Finally, the survivor's pension is paid subject to means testing. The applicant's annual income must not exceed 20,113.60 euros for a single person, 32,181.76 euros for a person living as a couple. Under age 55, the surviving spouse benefits from a reduction of 30% of their income for the calculation of survivor's pension rights.
The survivor's pension is equal to 54% of the pension from which the deceased spouse benefited or that which he should have received. Its minimum amount is 283.87 euros per month if it provided proof of 15 years (i.e. 60 quarters) of retirement insurance and a maximum of 868.36 euros.
The survivor's pension is increased if at least three children have been brought up by the couple. It is also when the surviving spouse has reached the age to receive the basic pension, when he has exercised his pension rights and if the latter do not exceed 853.25 euros per month.
Whether the deceased spouse was a salaried worker, a salaried or non-salaried agricultural worker, a self-employed craftsman or even had a liberal activity (except lawyers), the same survivorship application document is available on the social security retirement insurance website. This document does not, however, allow you to obtain a survivor's pension from special schemes, the lawyers' scheme, supplementary pension schemes for the liberal professions and employees. The request for a survivor's pension must then be sent for study, preferably to the fund of the scheme of the last activity of the deceased spouse. This request can be submitted directly to the offices of the scheme concerned or sent by post.
The resources to be declared to apply for a survivor's pension are those received in France and/or abroad during the last three months. In the event of a refusal due to exceeding the amount of resources to benefit from a survivor's pension, the period during which the income is taken into account may be extended to twelve months.
The surviving spouse who lives as a couple must also declare the income of their spouse, cohabitant or PACS partner. However, some resources are not to be declared:widowhood allowance, invalidity pension or supplementary survivors' pensions. Please note, if the scheme fund to which the request was sent does not respond within four months of its submission, the request has been refused.
The survivor's pension is paid monthly. The start of its payment depends on when the surviving spouse applied. If the latter is deposited within twelve months following the death, the starting point of the pension may be fixed on the first day of the month following the death and at the earliest on the first day of the month following the age of 55 (or 51 years) of the applicant. If the request for a survivor's pension is made beyond the twelve months following the death, it will be paid on the first day of the month following the submission of the request and, at the earliest, on the first day of the month following the age of 55 (or 51) of the surviving spouse.
Note, in the case where the deceased spouse was married several times, the survivor's pension is shared between each ex-husband or ex-wife in proportion to the duration of each marriage.
