What happens when the husband or wife dies?

[JAH]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I haven't been able to find a clear answer online. I know there's a "survivor's" pension that applies under certain conditions if someone dies while still paying in, but what happens when one of a husband/wife couple dies after they both reach 65 and start receiving their pensions? Does that pension just vanish, or does some of it get "inherited" by the surviving spouse? I'm currently projected to qualify for ¥1.88 million/year and my wife the basic ¥780,000, which is fine while we're both alive, but if I died at 66 would that mean my 30+ years of contributions would have been all for nothing and my wife would just be left with ¥780,000/year thereafter?

[beanhead]

https://www.moj.go.jp/content/001291268.pdf

Widow's Pension - this says she would get 75% of yours.

Not sure if this applies to a widower if the wife is the bread-winner.

Same-sex relationships? Don't even ask...

[JAH]

Thanks. OK so if I read that correctly then the widow’s pension for the National Pension is only payable up to age 65, but for the Employees’ Pension there’s no restriction, so my wife’s pension would increase if I died first. That’s what I was hoping, so I hope that’s how it works.

[beanhead]

There are all sorts of options, it seems.
It depends on what age the breadwinner dies, and if there are children as well.

I am off to do some exercise today. Thanks for the prodding

[adamu]

I am off to do some exercise today. Thanks for the prodding

Don't forget to reproduce.

[ClearAsMud]

As the wiki mentions, 75% of the decedent's pension means that much of the earnings-related part of the Employees' Pension, so you have to remember not to include Basic Pension amounts if the pensioner has been receiving them. But the 75% portion of the earnings-related part of the pension would continue for the lifetime of the surviving spouse unless (s)he remarries.

Not sure if this applies to a widower if the wife is the bread-winner.

Here you have to distinguish between the Widow's Pension (寡婦年金), which is part of the National Pension and payable between the ages of 60-64, and the Widow's Supplement for the Middle-aged and Elderly (中高齢寡婦加算), which is part of Employees' Pension Insurance and payable between the ages of 40 and 64 (and which for some reason appears to have been completed omitted from the English pamphlet cited by beanhead). The supplement is just that -- it gets added to the surviving wife's benefits up to the age of 64, and currently amounts to about 580,000 yen a year. In either case -- as the names indicate -- these benefits are available only to women (who lose them upon remarriage).

Unless dependent children are involved (a big "unless"), under the National Pension a surviving husband is only eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit from the death of his wife, and then only when she had contributed for at least 36 months to the scheme as a Category 1 Insured Person. But as you might guess, calculating pensions is a tricky business that depends on individual circumstances. Lots of variables exist, so visiting the pension office is always going to be the most reliable way of finding out what applies in your particular case.

[JAH]

There are all sorts of options, it seems.
It depends on what age the breadwinner dies, and if there are children as well.

I am off to do some exercise today. Thanks for the prodding

Haha, happy to have provided motivation

[JAH]

As the wiki mentions, 75% of the decedent's pension means that much of the earnings-related part of the Employees' Pension, so you have to remember not to include Basic Pension amounts if the pensioner has been receiving them. But the 75% portion of the earnings-related part of the pension would continue for the lifetime of the surviving spouse unless (s)he remarries.

Many thanks for that, and the other explanations. I think what confused me was that my searches were only leading me to the explanation about the Basic Pension. Roughly ¥1.3 million of my pension will be Employees' Pension, so I guess 75% of that would be added to my wife's pension. But I take your point that a visit to the pension office is the best way to get a definitive answer on these things.

[captainspoke]

I guess since both my wife and I always worked, and now collect our respective pensions, I've never wondered about survivorship.

Neither of us was ever the other person's dependent spouse (and still aren't), so I wouldn't expect that we'd be eligible.

[Beaglehound]

I guess since both my wife and I always worked, and now collect our respective pensions, I've never wondered about survivorship.

Neither of us was ever the other person's dependent spouse (and still aren't), so I wouldn't expect that we'd be eligible.

I don’t think that matters, either of you would still be entitled to 75% of the other’s employee based pension, assuming (as I understand it) you have paid in for 25-years plus. In your situation, perhaps something to be aware of but not urgent to clarify.