Court withdraws part of the pension and forces widow to return more than 10 thousand euros to Social Security: this was the reason

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A woman who received the entire widow’s pension will have to return 10,542 euros to Social Security, after the court confirmed that there was a first wife also entitled to the same pension. The decision was taken by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, which ruled in favor of the public administration and forced the widow to return the amounts.

According to the Spanish portal Noticias Trabajo, the case began in January 2021, when the widow, identified as Justa, submitted a request for a widow’s pension after her husband’s death. The National Social Security Institute (INSS) recognized your right to receive 52% of the regulatory base, equivalent to around 1,100 euros per month.

For more than a year, the woman received the amount without incident, until the deceased’s first wife, named Leonor, filed a formal complaint with the INSS, claiming that she was also entitled to the benefit. The request was accepted by court decision, which forced the entity to review the process.

Revised pension and required refund

After verifying the facts, Social Security concluded that there were two legitimate beneficiaries and proceeded with the redistribution of the pension. The new decision reduced Justa’s pension to 40% of the regulatory base, making him receive 462 euros per month.

Furthermore, the administration calculated that the beneficiary had received 10,542.12 euros in excess, an amount that she must repay through monthly discounts of 175.60 euros for five years.

Unsatisfied, the widow appealed the decision to court, claiming that the reduction and the obligation to return the money were unfair. However, both the Labor Court No. 40 of Madrid and the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid confirmed the legality of Social Security’s actions.

An “act of management”, not an ex officio review

In the ruling, the court explains that there was no ex officio review of the initial decision, but rather an act of ordinary management, that is, a correction resulting from a new fact: the identification of another person entitled to the same pension.

The ruling cites article 45 of the Spanish General Social Security Law and article 47 of Law 39/2015, which regulate the common administrative procedure.

According to the judges, the managing entity acted within the legality, by adjusting the value to the new reality of beneficiaries.

The same source states that the court also based its decision on a previous ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court (Appeal 2318/2008), which distinguishes acts of review from acts of ordinary management. In the latter case, the reimbursement “does not result from the annulment of the initial act, but from the adjustment of the installment in light of a supervening circumstance”.

What the law says about shared pensions

Article 220, paragraph 2, of the General Social Security Law establishes that, when there are two or more people entitled to the same widow’s pension, the pension must be shared in proportion to the time each person lived or married to the deceased.

Therefore, the total amount is not divided into equal parts: each beneficiary receives a percentage corresponding to the years of marital relationship.

For example, one of the widows may be entitled to 60% of the pension, while the other receives 40%, depending on the length of the marriage to the deceased.

First decision was “contrary to the law”

In its reasoning, the Superior Court of Justice considered that the first administrative decision, which allocated 100% of the pension to the second widow, was contrary to the law, since there was already a previous beneficiary with the same right. Therefore, he understood that Social Security legitimately corrected the value and that the woman will even have to return the amounts unduly received.

The decision highlights that, in these cases, the redistribution of the pension is mandatory and does not depend on the will of the beneficiaries, as it is a shared right defined by the law itself.

According to the , authorities recommend that, whenever there is doubt, widows inform Social Security of the existence of previous marriages of the deceased, to avoid future returns and legal proceedings.

In Spain, the widow’s pension is one of the most monitored in the public network, precisely due to cases of duplication of beneficiaries that have emerged in recent years.

Similar situation in Portugal

In Portugal, the survivor’s pension can be divided when the deceased had more than one legally recognized marriage, but the sharing is not done based on the duration of each relationship. The law determines that the current spouse is entitled to the pension, and the ex-spouse can only receive it if he or she is entitled to alimony, being limited to that amount.

These rules are set out in article 45 of the Survivors’ Pensions Statute, applicable to Caixa Geral de Aposentações pensioners. In Spain, the division is made proportionally to the length of marriage of each beneficiary, which explains the differences between the two countries.

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