Cohabiting and registered partners don't miss out

Partner's pension

Marriage is no longer the ideal it once was. Many people choose to live differently, as cohabiting or registered partners. With BVK, this does not entail any disadvantages when one of the partners dies.

The partner receives money

Money is no substitute for a partner. But it does at least help financially when you lose a loved one. BVK treats registered partnerships on an equal footing with marriage. In the case of cohabiting arrangements, the partners must meet certain criteria:

• They must be unmarried 
• They must not be living in a registered partnership
• They must not be closely related (parents, siblings, children)
• At the time of death, they must have been living together for an uninterrupted period of at least five years, or be responsible for supporting mutual children
• They must have entered into a written obligation to provide personal and financial support

The amount of the pension depends on when the insured person dies. If an actively insured person dies before reaching the age of 65, the spouse's pension amounts to 40% of the insured salary (or two-thirds of the insured person's disability pension if they were disabled). It is paid out until the deceased person would have turned 65, at which point the pension is calculated anew. It then amounts to two-thirds of the pension that would have resulted if the savings had been maintained until the deceased person turned 65 (under the "Norm" model).

If an actively insured person dies after turning 65, the spouse's pension amounts to two-thirds of the pension to which the deceased person would have been entitled. Two-thirds of the pension is also paid out if a married pensioner dies. This amount may be reduced to one-third if the higher conversion rate is chosen upon retirement.

Different conditions may apply to the pension amount that is used to calculate survivors' benefits depending on the chosen pension model. You can find out more about the different pension models here.