Quarter of death
The death quarter (sometimes also called death quarter or death bridging period ) is a term from the statutory pension insurance in Germany.
It describes the period in which the widow's or widower's pension is still paid after the death of an insured person in the amount of the pension due to full disability that the insured would have received. If he has already received an old-age pension, a pension due to reduced earning capacity or a pension due to incapacity to work, the amount of the pension is also relevant during the quarter of the death of the widow's or widower's pension. This is the period from the date of death of the insured person to the third calendar month following the month in which the insured person died. The statutory reduction in the survivor's pension to 55 or 60 percent for a large widow's / widower's pension or to 25 percent for a small widow's / widower's pension therefore only takes place from the fourth calendar month.
The increased pension amount is intended to facilitate the financial transition to the changed circumstances for the surviving dependents after the death of the spouse.
definition
The entitlement to a survivor's pension (here: widower's / widow's pension) is regulated in Section 46, Book Six of the Social Code (SGB VI). The term mortality quarter is there not to be found and thus a legal concept, resulting from the application of § 46 SGB VI with the non-application of the income deduction for survivors' pensions ( § 97 , § 67 SGB VI) and the possible advance payment by the Pension Service of Deutsche Post AG results.
Explanation
There are two groups of widows and widowers:
1. The deceased spouse had not yet received their own pension from the statutory pension insurance until their death .
- The widow's or widower's pension application must be submitted directly to the pension insurance agency. If the other eligibility requirements are met, he will pay a widow's / widower's pension in the full amount of the insured person's pension from the date of death to the third calendar month after the month of death.
- Example 1:
- Mr. M. dies on September 2, 2012; he has not yet received a pension. After submitting an application to the pension insurance agency, his wife receives a widow's pension in the amount of the full pension entitlements that Mr. M. achieved up to his death, i.e. from September 2, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
2. The deceased spouse had already drawn their own pension from the statutory pension insurance until their death.
- The widow / widower has the option of applying to Deutsche Post AG for an advance on the expected widow / widower's pension within 30 days of death. To do this, the death certificate and proof of identity of the surviving dependents (passport, identity card) must be presented and a short form filled out, which is available in every post office or on the Internet. Deutsche Post AG then usually pays the advance payment to the bereaved within a few days. The advance is three times the pension amount paid for the month of death and is offset against the later widow / widower pension entitlements. The application for advance payment is considered to be a pension application, but is not sufficient for the later calculation of the survivor's pension. A formal application must therefore be submitted to the relevant pension insurance company.
- Example 2:
- Mr. T. dies on September 2, 2012; previously he was already drawing a pension. If his widow submits an application for an advance payment to widows at a post office by October 1, 2012 at the latest, Deutsche Post AG will pay a one-time advance to Ms. T. for the period from October 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. If she applies for the advance payment for the quarter of death later, it can no longer be paid out by Deutsche Post AG's Pension Service. The higher widow's pension for the first three calendar months after the death of the insured person will only be paid out once the pension insurance agency has determined the widow's pension.
particularities
During the quarter of the death, no income will be credited to the survivor's pension ( Section 97 (1) sentence 2 in conjunction with Section 67 No. 5 or 6 SGB VI).
Surviving life partners of a registered civil partnership are also considered survivors within the meaning of SGB VI ( Section 46 (4) SGB VI).
For the widow's / widower's pensions for spouses divorced before July 1, 1977, there is no quarterly death ( Section 255 (2) SGB VI).
