Novice

CONDITIONS FOR THE ENTITLEMENT TO WIDOW-ER'S PENSION

General and specific conditions have to be met if a widow-er wants to qualify for a widow-er’s pension. General conditions have to be met by a deceased insured person or beneficiary of pension and disability entitlements, specific ones on the part of a widow or widower.

A. General Conditions on the Part of a Deceased Person

If a deceased person was a member of the insurance scheme, and

• had complied with the conditions regarding the entitlement to early, old-age, or  disability pension under ZPIZ-2. Their death is considered as the occurrence of disability category I.

If a deceased person was a pension beneficiary, and

• had been entitled to early, old-age, or  disability pension from compulsory insurance, or
• disability benefits from the compulsory insurance scheme.

If the death of an insured person resulted from an injury at work or occupational disease, a widow or widower is entitled to a widow-er's pension irrespective of the pension qualifying periods completed by the insured person.  

When establishing the conditions for the entitlement to a widow-er's pension, a final decision declaring the death of an insured person or beneficiary has the same effect as their death.

B. Special conditions

A WIDOW / WIDOWER

A widow-er's pension can be awarded to a widow/widower, if

1. he/she has reached 56 years of age, and

2. irrespective of his/her age, if:

• he/she was completely incapable of work by the time of the death of the insured person or beneficiary, or has become so within the year following the death of the latter, or
• he/she has been left with children who are entitled to a survivor's pension and for whom he/she has to provide for maintenance .

If he/she becomes disabled during the entitlement to a widow-er's pension awarded pursuant to the above stated conditions, he/she retains his/her entitlement for the duration of such incapacity.

A widow/widower who has been awarded a widow-er’s pension irrespective of their age (due to disability or the children entitled to a survivor's pension for whom he/she has to provide maintenance) and has reached 56 years of age during the entitlement to a widow's/widowers pension, retains his/her entitlement permanently. If such an entitlement terminated before reaching 56 years of age, but after 51 years of age, he/she can reclaim the entitlement to a widow-er's pension when he/she is 56 years age.

3. A widow/widower can exceptionally claim the entitlement to a widow's/widower's pension if by the time of the death of the insured person or beneficiary he/she had not reached 56 years age, yet he/she was 51 years of age, but only after the completion of a waiting period (when she/he is 56 years old).

A widow can also qualify for a widow's pension if she gives birth to a child of an insured person/a beneficiary within 300 days after his/her death.

After the death of an insured person or a beneficiary an entitlement to a widow-er’s pension can, under conditions which apply to a widow or widower, also be awarded to:

• a divorced spouse if he/she was entitled to maintenance by a court order or agreement until the death of the insured person/beneficiary. If a spouse from a later marriage or a cohabiting partner also acquires the right to a widow-er's pension, a divorced spouse receives his/her entitlement as a co-recipient,
• a person, who had lived with the insured person/beneficiary for the last three years prior to his/her death in cohabitation, which under provisions regulating conjugal community and family relationships is equivalent to marriage in terms of legal consequences, or had lived with him/her for the last year prior to his/her death, and they had had a child,
• a partner in a same-sex civil partnership.

A person who has been convicted of an intentional first-degree murder of an insured person / a beneficiary by a final court decision cannot claim an entitlement to a widow-er's pension.