A woman will not be able to receive the widow’s pension of 3,210.78 euros per month after the death of her romantic partner after the National Social Security Institute and the Mutual Fund denied it for not being officially registered as a de facto couple. The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid confirms this decision and clarifies that, even if there is a coexistence of decades and common descent, formal registration is a mandatory requirement that cannot be skipped due to a flexible interpretation of the law.
It all starts when the woman applies for a widow’s pension after the death of her romantic partner, which occurred on March 5, 2020 in a work accident. Both had maintained a daily cohabitation relationship for almost 25 years and were parents of a son born in 2007. In addition, they shared ownership of a home in Madrid where they had been registered since September 2001.
According to the resolution letter, Social Security rejected the request claiming that the relationship did not fit the current legal assumptions. The organization argued that the interested party was listed as single and that neither the marriage relationship nor the official registration of the couple had been proven. The law requires that this formalization be carried out at least two years in advance of the death in order to generate the right to the pension.
That is, article 221 of the General Social Security Law requires that the de facto couple have been registered in a specific registry, whether municipal or regional, or that the union has been formalized in a public document. Furthermore, either of these two methods must have been carried out at least two years in advance of the date of death of the deceased in order to be a beneficiary of the benefit.
Faced with this situation, the woman filed a lawsuit that was dismissed by the Madrid Social Court. He argued that it should be possible to prove it with the registration certificate or other valid means, in addition to denying the benefit violated the principle of equality enshrined in the Constitution by giving different treatment to identical coexistence situations.
Registration is an irreplaceable requirement
Not satisfied, he decided to go to the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, where they did not agree with him either, so he will not have the right to collect the widow’s pension, since to collect this aid it is not enough to love each other or live together for a long time. The court explains that the official registration in the registry is a “constitutive budget that gives official status to the commitment to coexistence.” The law requires that it be a formal procedure “ad solemnitatem” that “cannot be replaced by the accreditation of cohabitation by other means” nor “exempted by the fact that the couple has common descendants.”
The judges defend that these strict rules are so because “they guarantee that the attribution of rights will meet the requirements of legal certainty.” Furthermore, they explain that this control serves to “identify a situation of need worthy of protection” and, above all, “prevents fraud in claiming widow’s pensions.”
For all these reasons, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid has finally decided to “reject the appeal” presented by the woman. Since there is no official paper signed before death, the ruling confirms that “there is no right to the requested financial benefit” despite 25 years of shared life.