Nowadays, the time of service counting for retirement implies necessarily the counting of that period for survivor pension purposes.
However, in the past, the contribution system for retirement and survivor pension schemes was not unified, so it could happen that a scheme member contributed to the retirement scheme only.
Therefore, scheme regulations continue to mention separate time of service counting procedures according to its purposes, retirement or survivor pensions, with also separate contributions debts calculated.
The time of service counting for survivor pension scheme depends on the corresponding contributions payment.
Contributions debt calculation
The calculation of extra service contributions for survivor pension scheme is similar to the retirement pensions one, but the contribution rate amounts to 3% (instead of 8%) of the pensionable remuneration or the retirement pension, for each month taken into account.
Contributions debt payment
The survivor pension scheme member chooses one of the following two methods to pay the contributions in debt:
- In full in a lump sum;
- In equal monthly installments over a period no longer than 5 years / 60 payments (minimal monthly installment of € 25,00).
If the scheme member dies before the total amount is paid, the debt will be transferred to his lawful heirs through the survivor pension, in which that amount will be automatically deducted by CGA (withholding).
Definition
Survivor pension is a lifetime monthly benefit that corresponds to a certain percentage of the deceased accrued rights (of the retirement pension the scheme member was receiving at the moment of his death or would receive if at that time he met the qualifying conditions).
Application for a survivor pension
Those considered lawful heirs can apply for a survivor pension.
Concerning the scheme members retired according to the rules in force till 2005-12-31 and the deceased active members that would also retire according to those rules, the scheme considers lawful heirs (survivors) the following:
- Surviving spouse or adult partner, regardless of any conditions;
- Divorced or separated surviving spouse, only if he/she was entitled to an alimony paid by the deceased agent;
- Children under age 18 ,regardless of any conditions;
- Children:
- Permanently disabled, regardless of any other conditions;
- Between the age of 18 and 25, if attending secondary classes;
- Between the age of 18 and 27, if attending higher education classes and not earning more than 2/3 of minimum national wage.
- Grandchildren meeting the children qualifying conditions and the following circumstances:
- Both parents have died;
- One of the parents has died and the other is unable to support the child;
- One parent is unable to support the child and it is not possible to have alimony paid by the other;
- Both parents are absent and don't support the child.
(Grandchildren can only apply for the survivor pension if their parents can't)
- Parents and grandparents dependents of (supported by) the deceased scheme member.
(Parents and grandparents can only apply to the survivor pension if there aren't any of the beneficiaries prior mentioned)
Concerning the scheme members that will retire (or would, if they didn't die before) according to the rules in force from 2006-01-01 onwards (the scheme members that didn't have 36 years of service in 2005-12-31 and all civil servants appointed after 1993-08-31), the scheme considers lawful heirs (survivors) the following:
- Surviving spouse (should there be no children, one year of marriage required) or adult partner;
- Divorced or separated surviving spouse, only if he/she was entitled to an alimony paid by the deceased agent;
- Children under age 18, regardless of any conditions;
- Children:
- Permanently disabled, regardless of any other conditions;
- Between age 18 and 25, if attending secondary classes;
- Between age 18 and 27, if attending higher education classes and not earning more than 2/3 of minimum national wage.
- Parents and grandparents dependents of (supported by) the deceased scheme member.
(Parents and grandparents can only apply to the survivor pension if there aren't any of the beneficiaries prior mentioned).
Calculation method
If the deceased pensioner or active member retired - or could retire - according to the rules in force until 2005-12-31, the survivor pension corresponds to 50% of the retirement pension the deceased was receiving at the moment of his death or the pension he would receive if at that time he met all the retirement qualifying conditions.
If the deceased retired or would retire according to the rules in force from 2006-01-01 onwards, the survivor pension corresponds to the sum of 50% of the retirement pension named P1 with the percentage of P2 according to the following rules:
Table I
Legal heirs| Beneficiaries | % of the retirement
pension of the deceased |
|---|
| Class | Number |
|---|
| Surviving spouse, adult partner and divorced or separated | 1 | 60% |
| 2 or more | 70% |
| Children | 1 | 20%(40%*) |
| 2 | 30%(60%*) |
| 3 or more | 40%(80%*) |
| Parents | 1 | 30% |
| 2 | 50% |
| 3 or more | 80% |
* In case no surviving spouse, adult partner or divorced exist.
The survivor pension scheme of private workers (Social Security) fully applies to civil servants appointed after 1993-08-31.
The survivor pensions granted to surviving spouses and adult partners are means tested (only pension income is considered).
The survivor pension is reduced if the surviving spouse or adult partner is retired and if the monthly sum of both pensions is higher than € 2.000,00.
Competition rules between survivors
If the deceased pensioner or active member retired - or could retire - according to the rules in force until 2005-12-31, the competition rules between his survivors are as follows:
- If only survivors of the same group apply (surviving spouse, adult partner and divorced or separated spouse and adult partner / children / grandchildren / parents and grandparents), the pension is equally shared between them;
- If only grandchildren apply, the pension is equally shared between deceased children, then each share is equally shared between the children of each deceased child;
- If both children and grandchildren apply, the pension is equally divided among children, then the share(s) belonging to deceased children is equally shared between his/her children;
- If both surviving spouse, adult partner, divorced or separated surviving spouse, adult partner and children and/or grandchildren apply, the pension will be divided in two halves, one for the first group (surviving spouse, etc.) and the other for the children and/or grandchildren. The two halves will then be divided among the survivors of the same group according to the rules prior mentioned.
The survivor pensions granted to the legal heirs of those that could not retire according to the rules in force until 2005-12-31 is distributed among them as described in Table III (pension equally shared within the same class).
Pension payment
The survivor pension payment is due from the:
- Death of the scheme member, when the survivor pension claim was submitted in the following 12 months (civil servants special scheme or general scheme for private workers);
- Day 1 of the first month after the death occurred, when the survivor pension claim was submitted in the following 6 months (general scheme for private workers and adult partners pension claims);
- First day of the following month to the survivor pension claim was submitted, in other cases.
The pension payment and prescription rules are the same that apply to the retirement pension.
Pension rights loss
The survivor pension is paid until one of the following events occurs:
- The children or grandchildren reach the age of 18 and:
- Work or not attend:
- Secondary classes (18 to 25 years old);
- High education classes (18 to 27 years old);
- Get married(if the child is not permanently disabled);
- Surviving spouse, adult partner or divorced or separated spouse remarries;
- The disability or other circumstance that the pensioner met to qualify for the pension ends;
- Express waiver to the pension;
- Prescription of the entitlement to the pension;
- Acquisition of another pension;
- Pensioners' death.
Pension reversion
If the survivor pension is being paid to more than one beneficiary and one of them loses his pension rights, the global value of the pension is redistributed by the others, according to the rules prior mentioned.
Until August 1991, the new survivor pension scheme (approved by Decree-Law 142/73, 31st March) was not mandatory, so many civil servants opted for being affiliated at CGA for retirement pension purposes only, while maintaining their membership of the old survivor pension scheme (under the Decree-Law 24046/1934, 21st June), which had much lower contributions, but offered also considerable lower benefits.
Nevertheless, those civil servants were given the possibility to join - with retroactive effects from the moment they were affiliated at the old survivor pension scheme (called retroaction) - the new survivor pension scheme at any time (still during their career or even after, during retirement), as long as they paid the contribution gap between the old and the new schemes.
For those civil servants that never joined the new survivor pension scheme (regarding the time they served until 1991 August), CGA - under articles 8 and 24 of Decree-Law 142/73, 31st March –, whenever a survivor pension claim is submitted, performs the retroaction operation, in order to ensure that the contribution career for both survivor and retirement pensions are equal and that, therefore, the survivor pension is half of the retirement pension value.
The contribution gap between the old and the new survivor pension schemes is calculated using the following formula and that amount might be paid for those heirs immediately of on 60 monthly installments, withheld by CGA from the survivor pension:
(Time of service until August 1991 X Contribution rate in force at the time of grating the survivor pension (3%) X Gross monthly amount of the retirement pension of the deceased at the time of death) - Contributions delivered to the old survivor pension scheme
