Survivors' pension

What it means

Survivors' pension is the collective term for the widow's, widower's and orphan's pensions that the Social Insurance Agency pays to the survivors of a deceased insured person. It softens the loss of income a family suffers when the person who supported it dies.

The amount is derived from the pension the deceased received or would have been entitled to, such as an old-age or disability pension. The survivor receives a statutory percentage of that amount, so the deceased's earnings and personal wage points indirectly affect it too.

The condition is that the deceased was receiving a pension or met the conditions for one, had the required period of pension insurance, or died as a result of a workplace accident or occupational disease. For an orphan's pension, the child must be a dependant.

How it works in practice

The widow's and widower's pension is generally paid for one year from the spouse's death. After that, entitlement continues only if the survivor meets further conditions, such as caring for a dependent child, being disabled, having reached pension age or having raised a certain number of children.

An orphan's pension is paid while the child is a dependant, usually until compulsory schooling ends and then during studies up to a statutory age. Entitlement ends when the age limit is reached or studies end, so studies must be evidenced to the Social Insurance Agency.

The application is filed at the Social Insurance Agency branch for the applicant's place of residence. If the survivor also receives their own pension, the law sets rules for concurrence, and with a widow's pension the higher one is paid in full and only part of the lower one.

What to watch out for

A survivors' pension is not part of the inheritance and is not dealt with in probate. Entitlement arises directly from the law and must be applied for; without an application nothing is paid, and backdating is possible only for a limited period.

Remarriage ends entitlement to a widow's or widower's pension. Changes affecting entitlement, such as a child finishing studies, must be reported to the Social Insurance Agency, otherwise amounts paid without entitlement will have to be repaid.