Public Servants’ Pensions for family members
Content
What requirements must I meet?
The requirements vary depending on the type of pension:
- Widowhood pension: if you have lost your spouse or unmarried partner (provided that certain conditions are met), you can apply for a widowhood pension. Moreover, it is possible to apply for a widowhood pension if you were separated or divorced or if your marriage was annulled, provided that certain conditions are met.
- Orphan’s pension: the child of a parent who has died is entitled to an orphan’s pension, if under the age of 21. The pension can be paid up to the age of 25 if the applicant has no income from work, or the income is below the minimum wage. Orphans who are deemed unable to work before the age of 25, or from the date of death of the parent (giving rise to the pension) are eligible for an orphan’s pension for life.
- Parents’ pension: if you are the father or mother of the deceased, you can apply for a parents’ pension where no widow or orphan is entitled to a pension as a consequence of the death of the deceased, provided that you are financially dependent on the latter at the time of his or her death.
What am I entitled to?
In each case, two variables will be used to calculate the pension for family members:
- Retirement pension of the deceased: the first variable is the retirement pension which would have actually been payable to the deceased, duly updated where appropriate, or the pension to which the deceased would have been entitled at the time of his or her retirement or compulsory retirement, if the deceased dies before reaching the appropriate age.
- Percentage: varies according to type of pension:
- Widowhood: 50%. However, this will be 58% if the pensioner is over 65 years of age, receives no income from active employment, receives no other State pensions and has an income below the threshold for entitlement to benefits supplementing the minimum pension.
- Orphan’s: 10% for each beneficiary and 15% to be distributed among all beneficiaries. Accordingly, if there is only one beneficiary, that beneficiary will receive 25%; if there are two beneficiaries, each one will receive 17.5%; if there are three, each one will receive 15%. Those percentages are recalculated whenever one of the beneficiaries is no longer legally entitled to the pension.
- Parents’: 15% for each beneficiary.
The pension is calculated by multiplying both variables. The total is divided by 14 to obtain the monthly pension payment.
The pension is payable from the first day of the month following the death of the deceased. However, if, when the pension application is made, 3 months have elapsed since the death, the pension will be backdated for a maximum of 3 months from the date of the application.
There are guaranteed minimum pension payments
and the pension is adjusted annually.
How do I apply for it?
The procedure for recognition of a retirement pension is initiated at the request of the person concerned. Applications are available at the following link . Those applications must be sent to the Subdirectorate-General for the Management of Public Servants’ Pensions.
