Question to an expert
If I apply for my survivor’s pension late, will I receive the months that I have not received since the death?
When you lose your spouse or a former spouse, you are entitled, under certain conditions, to the survivor’s pension, according to the terms specific to each pension plan.
These survivors’ pensions must be requested, they are not granted automatically. In most schemes, you have 12 months to do this so that your survivor’s pension can take effect on the 1st.er day of the month following the death of your spouse or former spouse. (However, check the time limit that applies in each plan to which the deceased was affiliated.)
If you complete the process beyond the time limit, the reversion will not take effect until the first day following your request. The time and money lost will not be made up, there will be no retroactive effect.
It should be remembered that the age condition set by each scheme to claim reversion – it is 55 years in many cases, for example in the basic scheme for employees, or in Agirc-Arrco, their supplementary scheme – does not does not correspond to the age of the deceased spouse but to that of the surviving spouse. Confusion is common.
It is also useful to underline that it is not necessary for the deceased spouse to have been retired in order to request reversion. If he was not yet retired, the calculation will be made on the basis of the rights he had already acquired, regardless of his age.