Survivor's pension - Answers to your questions

Survivor's pension and minimum age for entitlement

Sophie was widowed at the age of 50. She has heard that there is a minimum age for receiving her husband's survivor's pension.

In fact, age is one of the conditions for receiving her husband's reversionary pension. Whether under the general Social Security scheme or the supplementary schemes, there is a minimum age requirement. This is set at 55 for the reversionary pension paid by the basic scheme and byARRCO, and 60 for the reversionary pension paid by AGIRC (the supplementary pension fund for managerial staff). However, under the general scheme, the age remains 51 if the spouse died before January 1, 2009 (or disappeared before January 1, 2008).

Survivor's pension and income

Sophie works in an accountancy firm and her husband, Jean-Noël, is an IT specialist. Their incomes are "comfortable" and, concerned about each other's future, they are wondering whether their resources might not "penalize" the surviving spouse for receiving the survivor's pension of the person who dies first.

To be entitled to the surviving spouse's reversionary pension, the surviving spouse's personal resources must not exceed a ceiling equal to 2080 times the hourly amount of the Smic in force on January 1 (i.e. 20,550.40 euros per year in 2018). If the surviving spouse is again living as a couple (married, civil union or cohabiting), the household's resources must not exceed 1.6 times this ceiling (i.e. 32,880.64 euros in 2018).

Steps to take
The reversion request must be made on a special form that can be downloaded from thepension insurance website, to the fund that paid the deceased's basic pension or to the deceased's health insurance fund if he/she was still working.

Reversionary pension and increase for children

Martine and Charles were the heads of a family with 4 children. When Charles died, Martine had not yet retired and her youngest son was still studying. She was told that having children could increase the amount of her survivor's pension.

Indeed, the amount of the retirement pension is increased for any employee who has had at least 3 children. The reversionary pension from the basic general pension scheme is increased by 97.07 euros per month (in 2018) for each dependent child. This flat-rate increase applies to each child. To benefit from it, you must not have reached full retirement age, nor must you hold a personal pension from a compulsory basic scheme.

Survivor's pension and minimum length of marriage

Christine and Didier had only been married for 5 years when Christine died. Didier fears that the length of the marriage was not long enough to qualify for his wife's reversionary pension, even though all the other conditions have been met.

If you have to be married, there's no length of time required. 20 years, 50 years or just 2 years... it doesn't matter how long you've been married. This rule applies equally to the basic and supplementary schemes.

Survivor's pension and remarriage

After divorcing Nadine 15 years ago, Philippe remarried Claire. Following Philippe's death, his ex-wife is wondering whether she is entitled to his reversionary pension and, if so, how.

Nadine can rest assured that, in the event of remarriage, entitlement to the reversionary pension is maintained for the spouse who was receiving it before the change in marital status. This means that remarriage has no impact on the payment of this pension. However, this entitlement applies only to the general scheme. For civil servants and beneficiaries of a supplementary pension scheme, the condition of non remarriage of the surviving or divorced spouse is necessary in order to receive the deceased ex-spouse's reversionary pension. In the case of multiple beneficiaries (spouse and/or ex-spouse), rights are divided proportionally to the duration of each marriage.

Marie Christine MENOIRE