• By Elisabeth SANCHO
• 30-08-2017

Can domestic partnership charge the widow's pension?

But the previous thing has changed at present because in April 2017 the Register of Domestic partnerships from Catalonia was created, thus ensuring that all citizens of that territory have access to such registration, irrespective of their place of residence, being that up to that date as already indicated, there were only municipal-scope records. Now and with the creation of this register, the opportunity is given to all the citizens of Catalonia to register as a stable partner, and now they do, that they can meet the requirements established by the current legislation, to perceive the survivor's pension.

Consequently it is important to note that if the couple has not registered in the register of stable partners, the Social Security will deny the survivor the pension of widowhood, being that although to date this could be unfair (since there were municipalities that did not give an option to enroll as a stable partner and therefore automatically deprived of such benefit) now depends only on the process , which is free of charge, at the headquarters of the Department of Justice of the Government of Catalonia or in the territorial delegations of justice of Girona, Lleida, Tarragona or Barcelona.

The General Social Security Act establishes the requirements for which a common-law partner is deemed to have the right to receive a widowhood pension, being these:

- That the couple has had a stable and noticeable coexistence with immediate character to the death and with an uninterrupted duration not less than 5 years.

- The registration as a domestic partnership in any of the specific registries existing in the autonomous Communities or town halls of the place of residence or by public document (notarized), which must have occurred at least 2 years before the date of death.

-That during the period of coexistence, no component of the couple was prevented from getting married or having a marriage relationship with another person.

- That the deceased has quoted for a minimum period, which shall be:

• If the death is due to a common illness: 500 days within a minimum uninterrupted period of 5 years immediately prior to death.

• If the death is due to an accident, whether or not at work, or to occupational disease, no previous period of contribution is required.

• In the case of persons who on the date of death are not discharged or in a situation assimilated to that of discharge, they shall be entitled to a widowhood pension provided that they meet a minimum contribution period of 15 years.

- That the income of the beneficiary of the widow's pension (surviving cohabitant):

• During the calendar year preceding the death of your partner, do not reach 50% of the sum of your own income plus those of the deceased in the same period, or 25% in the event that there are no common children entitled to orphan's pension.

• Or alternatively they are less than 1.5 times the current interprofessional minimum wage at the time of death. The indicated limit shall be increased by 0.5 times the amount of the minimum interprofessional wage for each common child entitled to the orphan's pension living with the survivor.

In this way and in the case of complying with all the previous conditions established by the legislation in force, the survivor's pension will be perceived by the surviving member of the stable partner.