Survivor’s pension: can you get it or keep it when you’re in a cohabitation relationship?

Surviving your spouse is always a challenge. In this very difficult context, there is a system which allows, at least, to benefit from a financial contribution, it is the survivor’s pension. This corresponds to a percentage of the retirement pension that the deceased spouse received or could have received if he or she was still alive.

To obtain it, the situations differ depending on whether you are covered by a basic or supplementary scheme; there are also various income thresholds to take into account.

At the time this article appears, only married couples are concerned, in principle, without any duration conditions. If you were in a civil partnership or only in a common law union (cohabitation), it is not possible to obtain a survivor’s pension. However, changes to the legislation in this regard are expected. Indeed, the Pension Orientation Council, commissioned by the government, indicated during a conference in February 2024 that it was studying a possible opening of the survivor’s pension to all couples, as indicated by Capital.

In the meantime, your cohabitation can change the situation if you were a married couple and received a survivor’s pension. Indeed, in certain plans, if you are subsequently in a common-law relationship with another person, you risk losing this pension.

As specified on the service-public.fr website, if you are the widow of a soldier or civil servant, a cohabitation situation can cause you to lose the survivor’s pension that you had obtained. However, “when cohabitation ends, you can request to regain your right to survivor’s pension”, it is specified. On the other hand, if you received this pension as the surviving member of a married couple and your spouse was an employee, you do not lose your rights, even in the event of subsequent cohabitation.

As a reminder, survivor’s pensions are subject to resource conditions. As of January 1, 2024, for a single person, they must be less than 24,232 euros if they are paid by Retirement Insurance. The income recognized for the calculation takes into account various income: salaries, personal pension, benefits in kind, etc.