FUTURA A to Z

When is there an entitlement to a partner's pension?

The life partner's pension is financial support that the surviving life partner receives after the death of the insured person. The civil partnership must be registered no later than three months after the death. Registration is only possible if the civil status is single, divorced or widowed.

Claim

The surviving partner is entitled to the partner's pension provided the following conditions are met at the time of the insured person's death.

• both partners are unmarried and not related to each other; and
• they are not registered within the meaning of the Federal Act on the Registered Partnership of Same-Sex Couples of 18.06.2004; and
• they have maintained a joint household at the same officially confirmed place of residence in a stable couple relationship without interruption for the last five years until the death of the insured person (if and as long as the health situation permitted this) or the surviving partner was supported to a considerable extent by the insured person. A tax-recognized weekly residence is equivalent to the official residence.

The entitlement also exists if the surviving partner is responsible for the maintenance of one or more joint children.

A civil partnership giving rise to a claim is also possible between persons of the same sex.

These requirements for a partner's pension can also be found in the pension fund regulations:

TO THE PENSION FUND REGULATIONS

Amount of the pension

The amount of the partner's pension is defined in the pension plan.

What do AHV annual salary, insured savings salary, BVG and insured risk salary mean?

The annual AHV salary reported by the employer generally corresponds to your gross salary subject to AHV contributions. This includes all income that an employee receives as part of the employment relationship. Salary components that only occur occasionally (overtime, long-service awards, bonuses) are not subject to BVG insurance and are not normally taken into account.

The statutory insured savings salary corresponds to the reported AHV annual salary minus the BVG BVG(2025: CHF 26,460). The BVG is a fixed amount that is deducted from the salary subject to AHV contributions in order to calculate the insured salary for occupational benefits.

The statutory maximum insured BVG may not currently (2025) exceed CHF 64,260. Income above this amount can be covered by a non-mandatory pension plan if the employer opts for one.

The legally insured risk salary is often defined in the same way as the insured savings salary.

The pension plan shows which salaries are insured in your specific case.