Widowhood Pension

Beneficiaries

A) WIDOW/WIDOWER'S PENSION

1.1 Individuals who are and who were the legitimate spouses of the person with a pension entitlement shall be entitled to the widow/widower's pension, provided they have not remarried or entered into a common law marriage

In cases of separation, divorce or annulment, access to a pension is conditional upon, having the right to the compensatory pension or indemnity referred to respectively in articles 97 and 98 of the Civil Code, this is extinguished by the death of the participant. The right to a widowhood pension is not conditional upon the requisite of being the accreditor of a compensatory pension when the beneficiary can prove they are in any of the following situations:

• The victim of domestic violence at the time of the legal separation or divorce
• Aged over 50 at the time of the death of the participant or that they had children together in the marriage, so long as they meet the following requisites:
  • The divorce or legal separation occurred prior to 1 January 2008.
  • A period of no more than 10 years has passed between the time of the divorce or separation and the death of the participant.
  • The marriage lasted at least 10 years.

1.2 Individuals who were in a common law marriage with the person with a pension entitlement at the time of their death shall be entitled to a widow/widower's pension, provided they meet the following requirements:

- The participant and the beneficiary:

• Had a similar relationship to that of a married couple,
• They were not married to another person or had impediments to enter into marriage.
• They can prove, by reason of the electoral register certificate, that they had been living together with the participant in a stable, publicly known, uninterrupted relationship for at least five years immediately prior to the participant’s death.
• There is a public formalisation of the de facto relationship, proven by:
  • A registration certificate at any of the specific registers of the Autonomous Communities or City Councils of the place of residence,
  • A public document which states the establishment of the couple.

In both cases the formalisation should have been made at least two years’ before the date of death.

Exceptionally, the right to a widow's or widower's pension shall be recognised when, following the death of one of domestic partners before 31 December 2022, the following circumstances apply:

a) a) The death of the domestic partner did not lead to entitlement to a widow's or widower's pension.

b) The beneficiary can prove the existence of a domestic partnership at the time of the death of the deceased, under the terms established by law (Article 38(4) of the Consolidated Text of the State Pension System Act).

c) The beneficiary has not had entitlement recognised to a contributory social security pension.

d) To qualify for the pension, the pertinent application must be submitted within the non-extendible period of 12 months from the entry into force of the exceptional circumstance (1 January 2023).

The recognised pension shall have financial effects from the first day of the month following the application, provided that all the requirements described above are met.

B) THE FOLLOWING PERSONS ARE ENTITLED TO A TEMPORARY WIDOWHOOD PENSION

A temporary widowhood pension shall be provided for two years, worth the same amount as the widowhood pension that would have corresponded, to people who in the event of the death of the participant from a common illness, not following the marriage, cannot prove a minimum period of one year of marriage to entitle them to said pension except where:

• They have children together
• A period of over two years of living together can be proven, included that proven as a de facto relationship.

The temporary widow/widower’s benefit, in the event that a temporary maintenance had been established, shall expire on the same date that the maintenance does.

Extinction of Pension

The right to a widowhood pension shall expire if the beneficiary remarries or forms another de facto relationship.

However, people who marrying after 1 January 2002 may still receive the widowhood pension so long as each and all of the following requisites are met:

• The pension holder is over 61 or, if younger, has been recognised as having a permanent disability that renders him/her unable to carry out any profession or function.
• The widowhood pension is the pensioner’s main source of income (it should account for at least 75% of his/her income).
• The total income of the new married couple does not exceed the annual calculation of double the minimum wage in force at the time.

In any case, anyone condemned under a final hearing as having maliciously committed a homicide of any form or malicious injury to person shall lose the condition of beneficiary of the widowhood pension when the victim of the crime was the pension participant, except where, if applicable, there was a reconciliation between them.

Pension calculation

The amount of the widow/widower's pension is 50% of the basis for calculation, or 25% in the event that the person entitled to the pension died after being declared incapacitated while on or as a result of active duty and they were assigned the corresponding extraordinary pension

However, the percentage will be 58 per cent or 29 per cent when the following requirements are met simultaneously and at all times by the beneficiary:

1. To be at least 65 years old.
2. Not entitled to another Spanish or foreign state pension. This increase shall be compatible with those public pensions, whether Spanish or foreign, the amount of which does not exceed the amount of said increase. In such cases, the increase in the widowhood pension shall be paid exclusively on the basis of the difference between the amount of this pension and that of the pension received by the beneficiary.
3. No income for the performance of a job as an employed or self-employed person.
4. No income from capital, economic activities or capital gains, in accordance with that established for said income in the Personal Income Tax, which, on an annual basis, exceeds the income limit established in the corresponding General State Budget Law in order to receive the minimum widowhood pension.

In the case of divorce, when various beneficiaries are entitled to a pension, this shall be admitted in the amount proportional to the time they each lived with the participant, guaranteeing 40 percent to the surviving spouse or de facto partner of the participant

In the case of annulment of a marriage, entitlement to a pension shall be admitted in the amount proportional to the time the beneficiary lived with the participant, regardless of whether there are other beneficiaries entitled to a pension, without prejudice to the guarantee of 40% to the surviving spouse or de facto partner.

Divorced or legally separated persons who draw a widowhood pension starting from 1 January 2010 will have the pension amount reduced (or that of the temporary benefit where applicable) if it is more than the compensatory pension, and brought into line with same.

This reduction shall not apply in proven cases of victims of domestic violence at the time of the divorce or legal separation.

Maternity allowance for widowhood pensions paid from 1 January 2016 to 3 February 2021.

• In the case of 2 children: 5 per cent.
• In the case of 3 children: 10  per cent.
• In the case of 4 or more children: 15  per cent.

1. If the amount of the pension for which they are eligible is equal to or greater than the maximum pension limit, only 50 per cent of the supplement will be paid, even in cases where there is a concurrence of public pensions.

2. If the pension for which the interested party is eligible does not reach the minimum pension amount and she requests it and meets the requirements to receive the minimum supplement, the maternity

3. Should a civil servant widow’s pension coincide with a retirement pension, independently of the Regime on which they are based, the complement for maternity paid shall be that which corresponds to the retirement pension.