A woman has lost the right to widow’s pension after Social Security denied the benefit to understand that her partner, despite being registered with her as a de facto couple since 2011, was still legally married to her first wife. The Superior Court of Justice of Castilla-La Mancha gave the reason to Social Security in understanding that it did not meet the requirements requested by the General Social Security Law.
As explained by the sentence, in 2021 the Social Security denied Mariana the widowhood pension after the death of her partner, Florian, with whom she had lived for more than 10 years and was registered as a de fact And because other required conditions were not accredited, such as stable and notorious coexistence for at least five years by means of a certificate of registration or income accreditation.
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Not being in accordance with the decision, Mariana filed a claim to Social Security with the objective of being recognized, being rejected. Thus, and exhausted the administrative route, he decided to go to court.
Marriage was not dissolved
The Social Court number 1 of Ciudad Real gave the reason to Social Security, that is, that the woman had no right to the widow’s pension. The Court considered proven that, although the woman was registered as a de facto couple since 2011 and lived with the deceased, she was still legally married to her first wife since 1978, since the judicial separation “has not constitutes a cause of dissolution of the marriage.”
Despite the judicial reverse, the widow decided to present a new appeal before the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla-La Mancha, but again they gave the reason again. This court explained that there was no marriage bond with another person to recognize the pension. The Court explained that “the consideration of de facto couple in order to cause the widowhood pension only those who are not prevented to marry and do not have a marriage bond with another person.” That is, it did not meet the requirement regulated in article 221 of the General Social Security Law (which can be consulted in this BOE).
The court also added that, despite registration as a de facto couple in the City of Albacete, it could not display effects because “such a de facto couple was not legally constituted by the subsistence of the previous marriage bond.” Thus and for everything explained, the TSJ dismissed the appeal and confirmed the refusal to the widowhood pension, although he warned that against the sentence only appeal for cassation for the unification of doctrine can be filed against the sentence.