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Art. 15 Spouse’s pension

1 In the event of the death of an insured member or pensioner, the surviving spouse is entitled to a spouse’s pension if the spouse
  • is financially re­spon­si­ble for one or more children; or
  • has reached the age of 40 and was married to the deceased person or lived together con­tin­u­ously with the deceased person in the same household for at least five years (the same registered place of residence) with a written mutual support agreement signed by both parties; or
  • is in receipt of a full pension in accordance with the Federal Law on Disability Insurance.
2 If none of these conditions is fulfilled, the surviving spouse is entitled to a one-off payment equal to three annual pensions.
3 Entitlement to the spouse’s pension commences on the first day of the month following the date of death.
4 Entitlement expires on the marriage or death of the surviving partner.
5 The spouse’s pension amounts to:
  • 35% of the insured salary in the event of the death of an active insured person who has not yet reached the reference age;
  • 60% of the last retirement or disability pension received in the event of the death of a pensioner;
  • 60% of the retirement pension acquired by the insured person at the time of death in the event of the death of an active insured person, cal­cu­lated on the basis of the retirement assets referred to in Art. 9.
6 If the surviving spouse is more than 15 years younger than the deceased insured person, the spouse’s pension is reduced. For each full year exceeding 15 years, the pension amount is reduced by 3%. Entitlement to the BVG spouse’s pension is guaranteed in all cases.
7 Divorced spouses are treated in the same way as widowed spouses if the marriage lasted at least ten years and a pension was awarded in the divorce decree pursuant to Art. 124e Para. 1 or Art. 126 Para. 1 ZGB. This entitlement is restricted to the BVG benefits and is due for as long as the divorce pension would have been payable. The survivors’ benefits of the Pension Fund are reduced by the amount by which they exceed the entitlement from the divorce decree when combined with the AHV survivors’ benefits. AHV survivors’ benefits are only taken into account to the extent that they are higher than the own entitlement to the IV disability pension or AHV retirement pension.