Surviving spouse's pension

On the death of a member, a surviving spouse’s pension is payable if the marriage lasted for at least one year (unless you have at least one dependent child, in which case this condition does not apply).

The pension is payable from the day following the member’s death and until the death/remarriage of the spouse.

Calculation 

The pension is equal to 1.1% of the final reference salary per year of membership that you would have had at your applicable retirement age (regardless of the contract duration).

If the death is due to an occupational accident/illness, the number of years taken into account is the applicable maximum period (e.g. 35 years or 37 years and 10 months). An allowance, called a “fixed sum”, is added to the amount above.

The total amount of the pension for a surviving spouse cannot exceed your final basic salary.

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In the event of the death of a beneficiary, a surviving spouse’s pension is payable if:

  • the marriage took place at least one year before the end of the member’s contract, or
  • the marriage took place less than one year before the end of the member’s contract and lasted for at least five years, or
  • the entitlement has been procured (Article II 5.09)

If the beneficiary gets married on or after the retirement date, the surviving spouse is not entitled to a surviving spouse’s pension unless the beneficiary acquires the right by submitting a request within 180 days of the date of the marriage. If the beneficiary wishes to procure this entitlement, a premium is deducted from the beneficiary’s monthly pension from the first day of the month of the marriage, until:

  • the last day of the month of the beneficiary’s death, or
  • the date of divorce, or
  • the last day of the month of the spouse’s death, should it occur before that of the beneficiary

The surviving spouse’s pension is payable from the first day of the month following the beneficiary’s death and until the death/remarriage of the spouse.

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Calculation 

The pension is equal to 55% of the basic pension of the deceased beneficiary.

An allowance, called a “fixed sum”, is added to the amount above.

The total amount of the pension for the surviving spouse cannot exceed the total benefits paid by the Fund to the deceased beneficiary.

To find out more...

Payment

Benefits are paid monthly in Swiss francs into a personal bank account in Switzerland between 6 and 8 of the month.