A man must return 29,075.18 euros to Social Security after having charged the widow’s pension for more than four years after marriage in the Dominican Republic, since this is confirmed by the Supreme Court judgment issued. Apparently, the National Social Security Institute kept the payment of the benefit, but later annulled it, understanding that the new marriage automatically extinguished the right, so social security opened a file and request to return the amounts charged unduly.
After the death of his first wife, Carlos Daniel request the widow’s pension, which was approved and began to collect it normally. Now, in 2014, he married another woman in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), of Dominican nationality. That marriage was not registered in the Spanish Civil Registry at first, since the consulate of Spain in Santo Domingo considered it a “simulated legal business” and rejected it.
You may be interested
Retirees charged 2,907.02 euros every month of social security
Social Security will remove the widow’s pension and force to return the unduly charged to those who counter new marriage or become a de facto partner
But every change, when the Provincial Court of Córdoba recognized the marriage, leaving the previous decision effect. At that time, the couple was able to register the link in the Consular Civil Registry in August 2018, which allowed their wife to obtain the family book and, months later, an entrance visa to Spain to initiate effective coexistence.
But, Social Security I consider that Carlos Daniel had no right to perceive the widow’s pension, since he had extinguished since the date of the new marriage, in 2014, and not since the registration in 2018. For this reason, he extinguished the pension and claim all the amounts charged improperly, making a total of 29,075.18 euros.
But, for Carlos Daniel, he thought it was not so, because he should count from the beginning of real coexistence in Spain and not from the wedding abroad, he decided to go to court to try to limit the return.
The widow’s pension is extinguished with a new marriage
Both the Social Court of Córdoba and later the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia gave the reason to Social Security, which had acted correctly despite the fact that the plaintiff claimed that the widow’s pension could not be extinguished until that moment, since until then there was no common life with his new spouse and, therefore, there was no real incompatibility.
Even so, this man decided to present a appeal and go to the Supreme Court. The High Court explained that the regulations are clear and article 223.2 of the General Social Security Law establishes that “the right to widow’s pension will be extinguished, in any case, when the beneficiary contracts marriage or constitutes a de facto couple.” Therefore, the new link in 2014, held in the Dominican Republic, was enough to end the benefit, regardless of the fact that effective coexistence in Spain began years later.
In addition, the Supreme Court took into account that during all that time man sent 600 euros per month to his new wife abroad, which demonstrated the existence of support and mutual help. As explained by the Supreme “the obligations of help and relief do not arise from coexistence, but of marriage”, which means that the benefit had been improperly perceived since the celebration of the link.
In this way, the high court ended up agreeing that the plaintiff should never continue to charge the pension after his wedding and that he proceeded to confirm the full return of the 29,075.18 euros to Social Security.