Equal Opportunities for Older Women

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The survivors' pension (pension de réversion) within the general state old age insurance scheme
Relevant authority:

Mainly: CNAV (Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Vieillesse - National Old Age Pension Scheme) ; MSA (Mutualité Sociale Agricole - Social Insurance for Agricultural Workers and Farmers)
Measure:

Law relating to the Social Security Code
Target group:

Witwer und Witwen eines Sozialversicherten der allgemeinen staatlichen Altersversorgung, die nicht wieder geheiratet haben und die zum Zeitpunkt des Ablebens des Ehepartners mindestens 55 Jahre alt waren.
Target:

- To guarantee the surviving marital partner a minimum income, originally reserved for widows but now extended to include to men, within the framework of equality before the law;
- To compensate for the income of the marital partner, which has been lost partially or fully through the death of that partner; this kind of loss mainly effects women who are still totally dependent on their husbands' income.
Detailed description:

The principle behind the survivors' pension is to pay a surviving marital partner (female or male) part - exactly 54% as opposed to 52% before 1.1.1995 - of the pension of the deceased partner; in this sense, it is a derived right. The conditions for qualification are relatively restrictive:

- the survivor must be at least 55 years of age, have been married to the deceased partner for at least the previous two years, unless the marriage has produced a child;
- the person must not have remarried before the survivors' pension has been granted;
- the person's income must be below the fixed highest limit.

Old age insurance for public officials and state workers has no age or income limit.

In 1998, certain clauses of the legal regulations came into effect.

The qualification conditions and the computation rate of the supplementary old age insurance are more advantageous for survivors.
Source of information:

Jacqueline Lacroix, 1992 : "Les veuves de plus de 65 ans et pension de réversion" (Widows over 65 years and survivors' pension"), in Solidarité Santé, Etudes statistiques, No. 3, July-September ; Dossier : Les personnes âgées (Old People), Paris ;

CNAV, anonym, 1996 : "La retraite des femmes" (Old Age Insurance for Women), Retraite et Société No 13, Herausgeber CNAV (National Old Age Pension Schemes), Paris ;

France Pratique,anonym, 2000 : "Pension de réversion" (Survivors' pension), http://www.pratique.fr/vie_prat/emploi/retraite/daf3608.htm
Contact:

CNAV, 110 rue de Flandre, F 75019 Paris
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2001-04-25