You apply for survivors’ pension on the appropriate form. A separate application is filled in for the surviving spouse and each child.

The criterion for receiving a surviving spouse’s pension is a marriage that took place before the deceased spouse reached the age of 65.

If you have a child together with your deceased spouse, you are entitled to a surviving spouse’s pension regardless of your age or the age of your child.

If you have no child together with your deceased spouse, in order to receive a surviving spouse’s pension you must be at least 50 years old when your spouse dies or you must have received a disability pension for no less than three years before the death of your spouse. You must also have been less than the age of 50 at the time of your marriage and your marriage must have lasted for at least five years before the death of your spouse.

A party to a registered partnership may receive survivors’ pension under the same conditions as those that apply to a married spouse.

Surviving spouses born before 1 July 1955
 
In order to ensure that female surviving spouses born before July 1955 do not lose the benefits they have obtained, their conditions to claim a surviving spouse’s pension have been eased.
According to the Survivors’ Pensions Act that came into force on 1 July 1990, a woman who has reached the age of 35 receives a surviving spouse’s pension on the death of her husband if the marriage had lasted three years rather than five and the spouses were in a state of marriage on 1 July 1990.
The entry into force of the Act also eased the conditions to claim a surviving spouse’s pension for unmarried women who have reached the age of 35. If such a woman marries after the amendment to the Act entered into force and she becomes widowed at less than 50 years of age, she is entitled to a surviving spouse’s pension if the marriage had continued for no less than five years at the time of her husband’s death.
The relaxation of the conditions that apply to the age of the surviving spouse at the time he or she married applies to both male and female surviving spouses.

A former spouse can receive a survivors’ pension if the deceased at the time of death was liable to periodically pay him or her maintenance in compliance with an agreement confirmed by the social welfare board or the decision of a court of law.

The survivors’ pension is determined based on the pension that the deceased received or would have received if he or she had become incapable of work on the day of his or her death. Survivors’ pension is determined based on the number of beneficiaries, and it may amount to no more than the earnings-based pension of the deceased.

The amount of the surviving spouse’s pension is affected by the number of beneficiaries among who the survivors’ pension must be divided. However, whether the surviving spouse also receives the pension does not affect the child pension amount. If the surviving spouse is the sole beneficiary, the surviving spouse’s pension amounts to half of the deceased’s pension. If there are children in the family, the survivors’ pension is divided among the surviving spouse and the children.

The total amounts of child’s pensions are presented in the table below. If there are several children, each child receives an equal share of the survivors’ pension. The table presents the children’s ratio of the survivors’ pension, regardless of whether the surviving spouse receives survivors’ pension.

Number of  children      Surviving spouse           Children

0                                     6/12                                -
1                                     6/12                            4/12
2                                     5/12                            7/12
3                                     3/12                            9/12
4                                     2/12                          10/12

When calculating a surviving spouse’s pension, the surviving spouse’s own earnings-based pension provision is taken into consideration. The reduction in the surviving spouse’s pension takes place immediately after the death of the deceased if the surviving spouse is more than 65 years of age at the time of the death or receives an earnings-based pension. For a surviving spouse who is less than 65 years of age and who is not on a pension, the reduction the surviving spouse’s pension’ takes place six months after the death of the deceased spouse. If there are children in the family, the surviving spouse’s pension is reviewed only when the youngest beneficiary child in the family reaches 18 years of age.

When reducing the surviving spouse’s pension, the surviving spouse’s own earnings-based pension is compared with the basis for reducing the pension, which amounts to 626,50 euros per month in 2011.

If the surviving spouse’s own earnings-based pension exceeds the basis for reducing the pension, an amount that equals half of the excess portion is subtracted from the surviving spouse’s pension.

If the surviving spouse does not receive an earnings-based pension in his or her own right, the surviving spouse’s calculated earnings-based pension that the surviving spouse would have received if he or she had become incapable of work on the 18th birthday of the youngest child entitled to a child’s pension or on the day of the death of the deceased spouse, is used to reduce the pension.