The calculation sheetRetirement · widowhood
Survivor’s pension from the French general scheme: conditions and amount in 2026
The French general-scheme survivor’s pension concerns a surviving or divorced spouse, normally from 55. Its rate is 54% of the deceased’s basic pension, with a minimum where applicable, means-tested reduction, increases and possible sharing between spouses (CSS L353-1). The 2026 ceilings are €25,001.60 alone and €40,002.56 as a couple. Agirc-Arrco applies other conditions. A total requires pension-fund checks of insured quarters, eligible resources and increases.
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Which amounts apply to the survivor’s pension in 2026?
The figures of the general scheme and of the private-sector supplementary scheme on 1 January 2026.
| Rule | Amount in 2026 | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 54% of the deceased’s basic pension | CSS D353-1 |
| Minimum age | 55, except the historical age-51 rule | CSS L353-1; service-public F13104 |
| Income ceiling, living alone | €25,001.60 a year, 2,080 hourly Smic | CSS D353-1-1 |
| Income ceiling, couple | €40,002.56 a year | CSS D353-1-1 |
| Applicable minimum, with 60 quarters of the deceased and outside the L353-1 exclusion | €4,019.13 a year, €334.92 a month | Service-public F13104 |
| Increase for 3 children | 10% of the survivor’s pension | CSS R353-2 |
| Increase at 67 | 11.1% if all retirement and survivor’s pensions have been claimed and their total stays at or below €3,020.07 a quarter; increase reduced to the ceiling | CSS L353-6; service-public F13104 |
| Agirc-Arrco survivor’s pension | 60% of the deceased’s points, no income condition | Agirc-Arrco |
| Under 55: widowhood allowance | Income of the last 3 months at most €2,698.43 | Service-public F744 |
The ceiling follows the hourly Smic of 1 January, €12.02 in 2026 (decree no. 2025-1228 of 17 December 2025).
Sources: CSS D353-1 · CSS D353-1-1 · CSS R353-2 · Service-public F13104 · Agirc-Arrco · Service-public F744
How much survivor’s pension could you receive?
Ordinary basic survivor-pension estimate: 54%, minimum based on the deceased’s quarters, and reduction under the income ceiling. Sharing, child-related increases and situations from age 67 need pension-fund review. Example: widow aged 60, 120 quarters for the deceased, no child increase.
Fictional example · survivor’s pension
Estimated survivor’s pension: €756.00 a month, with no reduction: your income stays under the ceiling.
- Before means-tested reduction: 54% or minimum
- €756.00 a month
- Income counted
- €13,800.00 a year
- Income ceiling 2026
- €25,001.60 a year
- Estimated survivor’s pension
- €756.00 a month
Estimate for the general scheme only. An Agirc-Arrco survivor’s pension may be added if its own conditions are met: 60% of the deceased’s points, with no income condition, but stopped on remarriage.
Where there are other eligible spouses, a divorced former spouse shares the pension in proportion to the length of each marriage.
Who can receive the survivor’s pension of the general scheme?
The surviving spouse and a divorced former spouse, even one now living with a new partner, normally from age 55. The age is 51 for a death before 1 January 2009 or disappearance before 1 January 2008 (article D353-3; decree no. 2008-1509, article 2-II). A Pacs or cohabitation gives no right to it. The deceased must have been covered by the Assurance retraite: private-sector employee, self-employed, public-sector contract worker or artist-author.
When the deceased had remarried, the pension is shared between the surviving spouse and former spouses in proportion to the length of each marriage (article L353-3), counted date to date and rounded down to the month (article R353-4). The share of a beneficiary who dies goes to the others.
Sources: CSS L353-3 · Service-public F13104
How is the amount of the survivor’s pension worked out?
54% of the basic pension the deceased received or would have received (Social Security Code, article D353-1), with a minimum of €4,019.13 a year in 2026 if the deceased had 60 quarters, reduced in proportion below that, according to service-public. This minimum does not apply when the deceased’s pension is below the minimum referred to in article L351-9: the pension fund must check this exclusion (article L353-1). It is increased by 10% if the beneficiary had at least 3 children (article R353-2).
From 67, an 11.1% increase may apply if the beneficiary has claimed all their basic and supplementary retirement and survivor’s pensions, in France, abroad and international organisations, and their total stays at or below €3,020.07 a quarter. The increase is reduced if it takes the total above that ceiling (article L353-6). A beneficiary who, at the death, is under 67, receives no retirement pension and has a dependent child may also receive €113.59 a month per child, subject to the income conditions and without child benefits due to the death under the deceased’s basic scheme; it stops when they receive a retirement pension or the child is no longer dependent (article L353-5; service-public).
Sources: CSS D353-1 · CSS R353-2 · CSS L353-6 · Service-public F13104
Which income ceiling must you stay under?
2,080 times the hourly Smic of 1 January for a person alone, 1.6 times that for a household (Social Security Code, article D353-1-1): €25,001.60 and €40,002.56 a year in 2026. From 55, the beneficiary’s earnings from work count at only 70% (article R353-1).
The deceased’s earnings and replacement income, survivor’s pensions from legally compulsory supplementary schemes listed in R353-1, and income from assets acquired through the deceased or their death do not count. The income counted is that of the 3 months before the start date, or of 12 months if it exceeds a quarter of the ceiling; above the ceiling, the pension is reduced by the excess (service-public, fiche F13104).
Sources: CSS D353-1-1 · CSS R353-1 · Service-public F13104
How do you claim it, and from when is it paid?
The survivor’s pension is never paid automatically: a single online claim on the Info retraite website covers all basic and supplementary schemes, or a paper form covers its listed basic schemes, with separate supplementary claims. The chosen start date is the first day of a month, no earlier than the month after the age condition is met or the filing date, subject to the death-year retroactivity rule (Social Security Code, article R353-7).
Provided the age condition is met, a claim within a year of the death lets the pension start no earlier than the first day of the month after the death (article R353-7). Without an answer from the fund within 4 months, the claim is deemed rejected, according to service-public.
Sources: CSS R353-7 · Service-public F13104
What does the Agirc-Arrco supplementary scheme pay?
60% of the deceased’s points, with no income condition, from age 55 for a death since 1 January 2019, and at any age with 2 dependent children at death under Agirc-Arrco’s criteria or recognised disability, according to Agirc-Arrco. In the ordinary monthly-payment case with a claim within 12 months, it starts on the first day of the month after death if the conditions were met; quarterly or annual payments to the deceased, or a late claim, change the start date or arrears.
It is not granted if the survivor has remarried, and a pension already paid stops for good on remarriage; a Pacs or cohabitation gives no right to it.
Source: Agirc-Arrco
What does article L353-1 of the Social Security Code provide?
Article L353-1 is the text that opens the survivor’s pension and leaves the age, rate and ceiling to decree.
En cas de décès de l’assuré, son conjoint survivant a droit à une pension de réversion à partir d’un âge et dans des conditions déterminés par décret si ses ressources personnelles ou celles du ménage n’excèdent pas des plafonds fixés par décret.
La pension de réversion est égale à un pourcentage fixé par décret de la pension principale ou rente dont bénéficiait ou eût bénéficié l’assuré, sans pouvoir être inférieure à un montant minimum fixé par décret en tenant compte de la durée d’assurance lorsque celle-ci est inférieure à la durée déterminée par ce décret.
In English, briefly (our summary, not an official translation): When an insured person dies, the surviving spouse is entitled to a survivor’s pension from an age and on conditions set by decree, if their own income or the household’s does not exceed ceilings set by decree. The pension is a percentage of the deceased’s pension set by decree, with a minimum where applicable that depends on the length of insurance (the L353-1 exclusion must be checked). The decree sets the rate at 54% (article D353-1) and the ceiling at 2,080 times the hourly Smic of 1 January (article D353-1-1).
What do widows, widowers and former spouses ask before claiming?
Is the general-scheme survivor’s pension lost on remarriage?
No: remarriage does not remove this right, subject to age and income conditions; a new couple falls under the €40,002.56 a year ceiling (Social Security Code, articles L353-1 and D353-1-1). Agirc-Arrco, however, stops its survivor’s pension on remarriage.
Can a Pacs partner receive a survivor’s pension in France?
No. You must have been married to the deceased: a Pacs or cohabitation gives no right to a survivor’s pension, neither in the general scheme nor at Agirc-Arrco (service-public, fiche F13104; Agirc-Arrco).
What can be claimed before 55?
The widowhood allowance can be claimed, subject to residence and the deceased’s coverage for at least 3 months in the previous year, by a non-divorced spouse under 55 who does not live as a couple and whose income over the last 3 months does not exceed €2,698.43 (service-public, fiche F744). The Agirc-Arrco survivor’s pension remains possible before 55 with 2 dependent children or in case of disability.
Which charges are taken from the survivor’s pension?
CSG, CRDS and the additional solidarity contribution for autonomy (CASA), according to service-public (fiche F13104).
Can the amount change after it is granted?
Yes, if your income changes, until a last review set at the latest 3 months after all your own pensions start, excluding new work-and-retirement rights specified in R353-1-1, or at the legal retirement age if you have no right to one (Social Security Code, article R353-1-1).
What changed for the survivor’s pension in 2026?
Two updates on 1 January 2026, one to the amounts, the other to the ceiling.
Basic pensions and survivor’s pensions rise by 0.9%; the minimum survivor’s pension becomes €4,019.13 a year (L’Assurance retraite; service-public).
Sources: L’Assurance retraite · Service-public F13104
With a Smic of €12.02 an hour on 1 January, the income ceiling becomes €25,001.60 for a person alone and €40,002.56 for a couple (Social Security Code, article D353-1-1).
Source: CSS D353-1-1
Which texts set the rules of the French survivor’s pension?
- Social Security Code, article L353-1 (survivor’s pension)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, article D353-1 (54% rate, minimum)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, article D353-1-1 (income ceilings)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, articles L353-3 and R353-4 (former spouses, sharing)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, article R353-1 (income counted, 30% reduction)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, article R353-7 (start date)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, article R353-2 (10% increase)Légifrance, in French
- Social Security Code, articles L353-5 and L353-6 (increases for a dependent child and at 67)Légifrance, in French
- Survivor’s pension of the Assurance retraite (fiche F13104)Service-public.fr, in French · checked by the publisher on 1 January 2026
- Survivor’s pension for a spouse or former spouseAgirc-Arrco, in French
- Widowhood allowance (fiche F744)Service-public.fr, in French · checked by the publisher on 5 January 2026
- Increase of your pension in 2026L’Assurance retraite, in French · updated on 29 December 2025
- Social Security Code, article R353-1-1 (review of the survivor’s pension)Légifrance, in French
Texts cited last checked: 25 September 2026