these strict conditions for receiving a survivor’s pension

So that the surviving spouse does not find themselves destitute, the law grants them the right to receive part of their husband’s or wife’s pension. But there are conditions to respect.

On the death of one of the spouses, his spouse can benefit from part of the pension he received or would have received during his lifetime. In practice, it should be said survivor’s pensions. Survivorship applies to the basic retirement pension and to the supplementary pension. The surviving spouse will thus receive two survivor’s pensions, if they meet the required conditions, or just one if they do not.

Basic reversion under conditions

Payment of the survivor’s pension from the basic pension scheme, i.e. the social security scheme applicable to employees and certain assimilated self-employed persons (self-employed workers, traders, craftsmen, etc.) is subject to the meeting of two cumulative conditions:

• the surviving spouse or ex-spouse must be g at ​​least 55 years old. It doesn’t matter if he remarried. As an exception, when the insured person died before January 1, 2009, the minimum age required is set at 51, regardless of the date of filing of the survivor’s pension application.
• And in any case, he must have resources not exceeding a certain ceiling. The personal resources (salaries, retirement pensions, income from financial investments, etc.) taken into account are those of the spouse or ex-spouse of the dcd insured if he lives alone, or those of his couple if he lives in cohabitation, if he is PACS or remarried.

The resources must not exceed an annual amount equal to 2080 times the gross hourly minimum wage in force on January 1 of the year of the request. For applications submitted in 2022, the maximum annual resources is 21,985 euros if the spouse lives alone, or 35,177 euros if they live as a couple.

The resources to be taken into account are those received for the three calendar months preceding the date of the request. If this examination results in the rejection of your request, we will contact you again in order to study your resources over a period of 12 months, specified in the pension insurance. If the rejection is confirmed, it is possible to submit a new application if the income subsequently decreases.

It should be noted that in the case where the surviving spouse is aged 55 and over, his earned income is reduced by one 30% reduction.

Once these conditions have been met, the survivor’s pension under the basic scheme is equal to 54% of the retirement pension which the deceased spouse was or should have been receiving. It cannot be less than a fixed minimum 306 euros per month if the deceased spouse has contributed to pension insurance for at least 15 years (60 quarters). Otherwise, this minimum is reduced. The maximum amount of the survivor’s pension is limited to 11,877.84 euros per year, i.e. 989.82 euros per month.

Boosts are possible: an increase for age for the benefit of the surviving spouse with very modest resources; a bonus if the beneficiary of the survivor’s pension has had at least three children; and an increase if at the time of the death of the insured the spouse has dependent children. If he can accumulate his own retirement pension and a survivor’s pension, the latter will be reduced if the total exceeds the income ceiling.

In all cases, the survivor’s pension is revalued under the same conditions as the basic pension. Basic retirement pensions were increased by 0.8% on 1 January. This increase concerns 14 million people and will be effective as of the payment in February. Basic retirement and disability pensions were increased by 4% in August 2022.

If the law indicates that the absence of a response for more than four months is worth a decision to reject the survivor’s pension, it happens that the files are processed up to 18 months after the filing of the application. We must therefore never be satisfied with an implicit refusal. Especially since the supplementary pension fund requests notification of the award or refusal of the basic pension. For this same reason, even if he knows he is not entitled to the survivor’s pension from the basic scheme due to resources exceeding the ceiling, the spouse must still file a request in order to obtain a notification of refusal which will be required by the supplementary pension fund.

Note that for civil servants and professionals with an independent pension plan (notary, lawyers, etc.), specific rules apply in matters of survivor’s pension. Farmers and their employees come under the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA).

A more accessible supplementary pension

The supplementary retirement survivor’s pension is awarded by the supplementary pension fund to which the deceased insured had contributed. In the case of Agirc-Arrco, for employees in the private sector, the surviving spouse or divorced ex-spouse must not only not be remarried, but also be at least 55 years old (unless he has at least two children dependent at the time of death or is in a situation of disability) to benefit from it. He can thus receive 60% of supplementary pension rights acquired by spouse dcd.

Unlike the basic survivor’s pension, no means test is required. A spouse who is denied the retirement pension from the basic scheme because of too high resources is entitled to the survivor’s pension from the supplementary. Moreover, he can cumulate his own retirement pension with the supplementary survivor’s pension without limitation of amount. On the other hand, in the event of remarriage, he loses the benefit of payment of the Agirc-Arrco supplementary survivor’s pension. Other complementary pension funds also apply this rule.