General scheme survivor's pension - Deceased who worked in the private sector

Verified 01 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

On the death of your spouse or former spouse, you may, under certain conditions, receive a survivor's pension from the basic plan. Want to know if you can benefit, when and how to apply? We present you with the information you need to know.

Warning  

If you were (or were) a former or common-law partner of the deceased, you are not entitled to the survivor's pension.

The survivor's pension is part of the pension (equal to 54%) that your spouse or former spouse was or could have been collecting (excluding any mark-ups).

The conditions concerning your spouse's or former spouse's pension rights vary according to his or her former employment status: employed and/or self-employed (self-employed, liberal professional, farmer).

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Employed activity

Your spouse or former spouse had to meet one of the following conditions:

  • Receive a pension from the general social security scheme or the AMM
  • Contributing to this plan

Exercise of a self-employed activity

Your spouse or former spouse, if he or she was a craftsman, trader or industrialist, had to meet one of the following conditions:

  • Receive a social security pension for the self-employed (ex-RSI now integrated into the general social security scheme)
  • Contributing to this plan.

Exercise of a liberal activity

Your spouse or former spouse, if he or she was a professional, had to meet one of the following conditions:

  • To receive a pension from the basic pension scheme of the liberal professions
  • Contributing to this plan

Exercise of an agricultural activity

Your spouse or former spouse, if practicing in the agricultural sector, had to meet one of the following conditions:

  • To receive a pension from the agricultural scheme
  • Contributing to this plan

You can obtain a survivor's pension from your social security organization (pension insurance or MSA: titleContent) if you meet the following conditions.

Age condition

You must have at least 55 years.

Marriage condition

You must have been married with the deceased.

The length of the marriage is not taken into account, there is no minimum length.

You can apply for the survivor's pension even if you live as a couple again after death.

Warning  

you are not entitled to the survivor's pension if you were living with the deceased or if you lived in a common-law relationship.

Resource Condition

Your gross annual resources must be less than:

  • €24,232.00 if you live alone
  • €38,771.20 if you live as a couple

The resources taken into account in the calculation shall be specified in the notice attached to the application form for a retirement pension.

If you are over 54 years of age and working, your annual resources are calculated with only 70% of your operating income.

You can increase the amount of your pension, under conditions that vary depending on whether or not you have reached the age at which you are automatically entitled to full pension.

This age varies according to your date of birth, under the following conditions:

Tableau - Conditions for the award of an automatic full rate pension

Year of birth

Retirement age

automatic full rate

Insurance period required for

to receive a full pension

1954

66 years and 7 months

165 quarters (41 years and 3 months)

1955 - 1956 - 1957

67 yrs

166 quarters (41 years and 6 months)

1958 - 1959 - 1960

67 yrs

167 quarters (41 years and 9 months)

1961 - 1962 - 1963

67 yrs

168 quarters (42 years)

1964 - 1965 - 1966

67 yrs

169 quarters (42 years, 3 months)

1967- 1968 - 1969

67 yrs

170 quarters (42 years and 6 months)

1970 - 1971 - 1972

67 yrs

171 quarters (42 years and 9 months)

1973 and beyond

67 yrs

172 quarters (43 years)

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Full rate age reached

You can benefit from an age increase if you fill in the 2 conditions following:

  • You have asserted all your pension rights
  • The total of your pensions does not exceed €976.26 per month

The surcharge is equal to 11.1% the amount of your survivor's pension.

Where the total amount of pensions and the increase exceeds €976.26 per month, the increase shall be reduced to the extent of the overrun. Pensions retained are those of the 3 months preceding the starting point of the increase.

You must notify your pension fund of any change in the amount of your pensions.

Your survivor's pension is also increased by 10% if you have had or raised at least 3 children.

Full rate age not reached

You can receive a lump-sum dependent child supplement if you do not receive a personal pension from a mandatory basic plan.

The amount of the flat-rate increase shall be 109.09 per month per child.

Your survivor's pension is also increased by 10% if you have had or raised at least 3 children.

To find out whether you can receive a survivor's pension, you can use the following simulator:

Whether you can collect a survivor's pension

This simulator gives you the list of supporting documents to provide and allows you to make your request online.

Payment of survivor's pension is not automatic. You have to ask for it.

You can apply for your survivor's pension on the internet or by mail.

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On the Internet

You can apply for your survivor's pension from your personal pension account:

Request my reversion

By mail

You must send the application form for a retirement pension to the deceased's pension fund:

Single demand for basic retirement income (paid employment, agricultural, liberal, craft, commercial or cultural activity)

The cashier will send you a receipt for your request.

If you have not received a response 4 months after submitting your application, this means that your application is rejected.

Calculation

The survivor's pension shall be equal to 54% the pension which the deceased was or could have been entitled to, without taking account of pension increases.

Warning  

for the agricultural scheme, there is no reversion on free points (retirement points granted as a result of certain agricultural activities, such as a farm worker, spouse or family helper).

Minimum Amount

There are 2 cases:

  • The deceased had 15 years (60 quarters) of general pension insurance. In this case, the amount of your survivor's pension is at least 3,897.55 per year (either €324.79 per month).
  • The deceased had less than 15 years of pension insurance contributions. In such a case, the minimum amount referred to above shall be reduced in proportion to the duration of the insurance.

Maximum amount

The amount of your survivor's pension cannot exceed €12,519.36 per year (either €1,043.28 per month).

Reduction for exceeding the resource limit

If the sum of your resources and your survivor's pension (excluding the child subsidy) exceeds the resources ceiling, your survivor's pension is reduced by the amount of the overrun.

The resource ceiling not to be exceeded is €24,232.00 if you live alone and €38,771.20 if you live as a couple.

Revision in the event of changes in resources

You must inform your pension provider of any changes in your income.

Your survivor's pension can be revised upwards or downwards (or suspended) if your resources change.

However, your survivor's pension can no longer be revised in any of the following cases:

  • 3 months after the effective date of all your basic and supplementary personal pensions
  • If you are not entitled to personal pensions, at 1er day of the following month your statutory retirement age

You can choose the date you want for the starting point of your retirement.

This chosen date is necessarily fixed:

  • on 1er day of a month,
  • or at the earliest on 1er the day of the month following which you meet the age requirement,
  • or earlier than the date of your application (however, if you apply within one year of death, you can set the starting point at 1er day of the month following death).

If you do not choose to pay, the payment shall take effect on the 1ster the day of the month following the submission of your application.

If the deceased has been married several times, the survivor's pension is shared between you and the divorced spouse(s).

This sharing is proportional the duration of each marriage.

Example :

The husband died in 2020. He had been retired since 2015 and was married twice. His last wife (the widow) and his previous wife (the ex-wife) all 2 meet the conditions for a survivor's pension.

  • Duration of 1er marriage: 121 months
  • Duration of 2nd marriage: 396 months

Total duration of the 2 marriages: 517 months

  • Monthly amount of husband's pension: €990 crude
  • Monthly survivor's pension: €990 x 54% = €534.6 crude
  • Amount of the survivor's pension of his last wife (the widow): €534.6 x 396/517 = €409.48
  • Amount of the survivor's pension of his former wife (ex-wife): €534.6 x 121/517 = €125.12

Payment of the survivor's pension shall be made every month, with due date.

Yes, the survivor's pension shall be subject to the following contributions:

You may also collect, under conditions which may be different from those laid down by your social security body, Reversal by the Arco-Agency your spouse's supplementary pension.

Whether you can collect a survivor's pension

Who can help me?

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