Survivor’s pension: a retiree loses 300 euros per month following a calculation error

Chantal and Jacky, septuagenarians, have been in a relationship since 1984. Separated for three years from the father of her children, Chantal was still married to her first husband, according to the testimony collected by Le Parisien. When the latter died in 2008, the retiree applied for a survivor’s pension. His request is refused, the couple’s resources exceeding the threshold of 28,088.32 euros.

A year later, the ceilings change as part of the Sarkozy reform. A survivor’s pension is then paid to him, at the rate of more than 370 euros per month. The couple even benefited from a retroactive pension, for sums not received between January and August 2009.

Everything changed in July 2022, when the retirement pensions of the general scheme were all increased by 4%. On her pension report, Chantal finds no trace of this increase and therefore contacts her pension fund, which assures her that everything should be settled soon… Only here: instead, the couple receives an email on January 17, 2023. This email informs them that Chantal’s survivor’s pension was incorrectly calculated fourteen years ago.

Contacted by the Ile-de-France daily, Carsat Nord-Est explains: “It is in no way responsible for the situation. When calculating the survivor’s pension by our services fourteen years ago, the resources of her partner had not been taken into account. Result: the couple’s income drops by 3600 euros per year, overnight.

The nightmare does not end there. In its letter, the pension fund also claims 18,000 euros in overpayment. “And then there is this story of overpayment: 18,000 euros, my partner does not have them! (…) I phoned Carsat and they told me: There was another mistake, it’s not 18,000 euros but 6,000 euros. I answered them jokingly: ‘Call us back next week and we won’t owe you anything more’”, says Jacky in the columns of Le Parisien.

During her interview with the daily, Carsat finally announced: “We will come back to her with the greatest attention, and she will not have to reimburse this sum”.