Widow’s pension. Andrzej Duda has made a decision on amending the act

President Andrzej Duda has signed an amendment to the act on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund and certain other acts. As a result, widows and widowers will soon be able to receive their pension and survivors’ pension after their deceased spouse.
A widow’s pension is a solution that assumes that a widowed person can collect their benefit and the survivor’s pension after the deceased spouse together. The impetus for the parliament to deal with the change in regulations was a citizens’ project, which was created at the initiative of over 20 organizations. The project was signed by over 200 thousand citizens. According to the current regulations, in the event of the overlap of the right to several retirement and disability benefits, the principle of payment of one of them applies. Therefore, after the death of a spouse, the widowed person can keep their pension or give it up and choose the survivor’s pension after the deceased.
President Andrzej Duda has signed an amendment to the act on pensions and annuities from the Social Insurance Fund and certain other acts. The widow’s pension will become a fact in mid-2025.
Widow’s Pension. Who can apply?
The citizens’ project proposed that a widowed person could keep their benefit and increase it by 50 percent of the survivor’s pension after the deceased spouse, or receive the survivor’s pension after the deceased spouse and 50 percent of their benefit. MPs accepted government amendments, according to which the second benefit will initially (from July 1, 2025 to the end of 2026) be paid at 15 percent (it will be possible to receive 15 percent of the deceased spouse’s benefit in addition to their own benefit or 15 percent of their own benefit and 100 percent of the deceased spouse’s). At the beginning of 2027, there will be an increase to 25 percent.
A widow or widower will be entitled to payment of a widow’s pension in the event of:
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reaching retirement age as specified in Article 24 paragraph 1 (i.e. 60 years for women and 65 years for men);
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remaining in a marital relationship until the date of the spouse’s death;
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acquisition of the right to a survivor’s pension after the deceased spouse no earlier than 5 years before reaching the retirement age specified in Article 24 paragraph 1.
It will not matter what pension system the spouses were in. If the husband has a pension from KRUS and the wife from ZUS, then each of them will be entitled to a widow’s pension after the death of the spouse, provided they meet the above conditions.