Pension de Réversion France: Claiming a Survivor Pension After Death
Two Separate Pensions, Two Separate Applications
When a retired pensioner dies in France, the surviving spouse may be entitled to a pension de réversion — but it's not one payment. France runs two parallel pension systems, each with its own application, eligibility rules, and payout calculation.
The CNAV basic scheme pays 54% of the deceased's basic state pension. The Agirc-Arrco complementary scheme pays 60% of the deceased's complementary pension. You must apply to each one separately.
The pension for the month of death is always paid in full, regardless of which day the person died. Any payments made for months after death will be clawed back by the state — so notifying both pension bodies quickly prevents overpayment recovery demands later.
CNAV Basic Pension de Réversion: Eligibility
The CNAV (Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Vieillesse) basic survivor pension has three key requirements:
Age minimum: You must be at least 55 years old at the time of application.
Income ceiling: Your personal annual resources must fall below €25,001.60 (single person) or €40,002.56 (couple) in 2026. Resources include your own pensions, investment income, and property income — but not the pension de réversion itself.
Marriage requirement: You must have been legally married to the deceased. PACS partners and concubinage (unmarried cohabitants) do not qualify for the basic scheme survivor pension, even after decades together. Divorced spouses can claim if they have not remarried, with the pension split proportionally by years of marriage if there are multiple qualifying ex-spouses.
There is no minimum marriage duration — even a short marriage qualifies. Remarriage does not cancel the CNAV pension de réversion, which changed under 2003 reforms.
Agirc-Arrco Complementary Pension
The complementary scheme is more generous in some respects. It pays 60% of the deceased's points-based pension and has no income ceiling — your personal wealth doesn't affect eligibility.
However, the age threshold differs: you generally must be at least 55 years old, or have two dependent children at the time of the spouse's death. If you remarry, the Agirc-Arrco pension de réversion is suspended (unlike the CNAV basic pension, which continues).
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How to Apply
You can file for both pensions through the centralized portal info-retraite.fr, which forwards your application to the relevant funds. Alternatively, submit directly to your local CARSAT office (for the CNAV basic scheme) and to Agirc-Arrco (for the complementary pension).
Documents you'll need:
- Certified copy of the acte de décès
- Your marriage certificate (acte de mariage)
- The deceased's Social Security number
- Your own identification and RIB (bank details)
- Proof of your current income and resources
There is no hard filing deadline — the pension de réversion can be requested years after the death. But payments are only retroactive to the first day of the month following your application (or the month after the death, if applied within 12 months). Waiting costs money.
The Month-of-Death Notification
Regardless of whether you plan to claim the pension de réversion, you must notify the pension bodies promptly after the death to stop ongoing payments. Include the deceased's Social Security number, full name, date and place of death, and a copy of the acte de décès.
The Someone Died in France: English Speaker's Emergency Guide covers the full pension notification and survivor pension claim process, including bilingual templates for contacting CNAV and Agirc-Arrco.
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