Retirement of survivor: the procedure for benefiting from the scheme has been simplified

A survivor's pension can be granted by the Pension Insurance (the basic Social Security pension scheme) after the death of your spouse, if he or she received a basic pension from the Pension Insurance, or could have received one. This is particularly the case if the deceased person has been employed in the private sector, self-employed or contracted in the public service.

To receive this survivor's pension, you must:

• be at least 55 years of age;
• have a level of gross annual resources that do not exceed a certain ceiling (currently, €25,001.60 if you live alone; and €40,002.56 if you live as a couple).
• have been married to the deceased person (you can receive this benefit even if you were divorced, including if you later became married to another person). However, the Civil partnerships and the cohabitation do not make it possible to benefit from the device.

The amount of the survivor's pension, which is paid to you by the Retirement Insurance, can go up to 54% of the pension that your spouse or former spouse enjoyed or could have benefited from. This amount is calculated based on your resources.

If your spouse or former spouse has been married several times, the survivor's pension is shared. This division is proportional to the duration of each marriage.

You can find all the modalities of this device on the Public Service fact sheet ‘Pension for the survivor of pension insurance’.

How do you apply for a survivor's pension?

Reversion pension is not automatically assigned. You must apply for it.

You can do this on the retirement info website. An online service allows you to make a single application, valid with all the basic and supplementary pension plans to which your spouse or former spouse has contributed.

To apply online for a Retirement Retirement Plan, you must:

• surrender on the Retirement Info website ;
• log in to your retirement account with FranceConnect;
• click on the « Services and procedures » tab, then on « Request a benefit », then on the « Request a survivor's pension » card;
• fill in the requested information and add the necessary supporting documents;
• consult the indicated list of plans for which you meet the conditions for granting survivor's pension, and validate it so that your request is forwarded to the pension plans concerned.

Once your application is complete, you can track its progress from your retirement account (« Track my applications » service).

You can also make your request via a paper form. Once completed, you must submit this document, accompanied by the necessary supporting documents, to your regional caisse.

If the deceased person was a government official, magistrate or military, you must use a specific Cerfa form.

How to check if you are entitled to the survivor's pension?

You can perform a simulation on the Info retraite website, to check if you are entitled to a survivor's pension and find out how much you could receive.

Moreover, the ‘My credentials’ help tool allows you to obtain a list of the main documents that you will need to attach to your application.