Who has never heard of reversion? It is a device that concerned no less than 4.4 million people in 2016, recalls Le Monde, which still corresponds to a quarter of retirees at the time. In addition, the number of beneficiaries is increasing: in six years, it has increased by 6.4%. This aid, which Planet has already had the opportunity to paint the portrait, mainly benefits women: it represents almost nine out of ten beneficiaries. It is all the more important to specify that it makes it possible to reduce the gap in terms of retirement remuneration between women and men to 25%. It is therefore difficult to argue that such aid is not relevant or even too costly. Even though it is indeed a major investment (36 billion euros in 2016). As our colleagues further point out, more than a million beneficiaries of the reversion do not receive – or not yet, at the very least – retirement.
However essential the survivor’s pension may prove to be, it is nonetheless relatively unknown to French women and men. “The rate of non-recourse for beneficiaries of a survivor’s pension is 62%”, writes the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) in its latest report on the question, published in May 2022. Several fundamental questions arise about this device.
The first thing to know about the survivor’s pension is that its allocation is not automatic. Therefore, it will not be collected after the death of the spouse without taking a certain number of steps yourself, as Planet has explained in the past. There is no need to wait.
It is therefore necessary, first of all, to report the death of his former companion or his former companion to the administration. Then make sure to file the pension application form with the National Old Age Insurance Fund (Cnav) and any supplementary pension funds concerned. To avoid taking any risk, it must be done before the first anniversary of the death, otherwise you risk losing the pensions for the current year.
The survivor’s pension, once granted, is paid by all the pension funds to which the deceased insured person was required to contribute. The processing time of the file can therefore vary considerably depending on the difficulty of it, recalls Pleine-Vie on its site, but after four months without a response, it is because the request has unfortunately been refused.
If this is the case, recalls the specialized site pension-réversion.fr, it is always possible to submit a new application, to contact the pension fund to be kept informed of the reasons for this refusal… or even to take contact with the social protection ombudsman directly.
It is possible, continues the specialized site, to accelerate the reversion request process. Provided, of course, that you know how to go about it! A few tips can help make the process easier.
The first thing to do, we can read on the platform, is to send a complete file, which meets all the expectations of the administration. It is imperative not to forget any document, otherwise you risk facing longer delays. Do not hesitate to be reread by relatives.
Then, you have to be ready to relaunch the pension fund. Prefer contact by phone or via the dedicated form.
