Payment of the 50% of widows’/ widowers’ Pension due to remarriage of widow/ widower (Civil and Armed Forces)

Background

Provisions have been made by the Widows' and Orphans' (Amendment ) Act No. 08 of 2010 and Widowers' and Orphans' Act No 09 of 2010 to grant entitlement to 50% of the pension which was being paid to widow/ widower, who marry again. Section 07 of Pensions Circular No. 13/2010 is applied in this regard and accordingly arrangements have been made by Pensions Circular No. 03/2013 to secure the rights of orphans of previous marriage, if any, (Legal children of male/female contributor) and to grant a half of the widows'/ widowers' Pension to the widow/ widower, who marry again.
If the remarriage of a certain retired widow / widower has been made before 17.08.2010 on which the Circular No. 13/2010 came into effect, the last date given to make claims for obtaining 50% of the benefit has expired on 31.12.2014 as per Pensions Circular No. 03/2014.
If a widow/ widower has entered in another marriage at the time of claiming widows' / widowers' pensions benefits, half of the salary, which was due to be paid from the date of death of male/female contributor but not received, is granted to widow/ widower and if there are legal orphans of male/ female contributor, all the arrears should be accounted in the name of the orphans and 100% of widows orphans pension is granted to orphans. The payment of orphans pension is suspended on completion of the age of 26 years or receiving an employment, whichever occurs first, and the payment of 50% of Widow'/ widowers' orphans pension is considered.
Further, at the instance, where widow/ widower is divorced from the second marriage, he/she is granted the entitlement only to 50% of widows'/widowers' pension.

Methodology

In case of a remarriage made whilst receiving a widows'/ widowers' pension, entitlement to 50% of the widows/ widowers' pension is granted from the date of the said marriage as per Pensions Circular No. 13/2010.
In this respect, section 34 of Widows' and Orphans' Pension Ordinance No. 01 of 1898 and section 18 of Widowers' and Orphans Act No. 23 of 1983 have been cancelled and following new provisions have been made by section 06 of Widows' and Orphans' Pension (Amendment ) Act No. 08 of 2010 and section 04 of Widowers' and Orphans' Pension (Amendment) Act No. 09 of 2010.

Widows' and Orphans' Pension (Amendment ) Act No. 08 of 2010

“ 6. section 34 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following new section is substituted thereafter:

34. (1) The widow of a contributor shall , on her remarriage, receive as pension after the date of such subsequent marriage,

(a) half the amount of the pension which she was receiving at the time of such subsequent marriage or
(b) where she was entitled to receive a pension but was not in actual receipt of the same, half of the amounts she was to receive in her capacity as a widow prior to such subsequent marriage.

(2) The children of the first marriage of the widow shall receive the remaining portion of the pension received by the widow after the payment to the widow is made in terms of paragraph (a) or (b) above.

(3)Where the spouse of such subsequent marriage is also a contributor to the fund and where such widow becomes entitled to receive a pension upon the death of such spouse in respect of the contributions made to the fund by such spouse, the payment of such amount as she was receiving as pension in terms of paragraph (a) and (b ) of subsection (1) shall be terminated with effect from the date of death of such spouse of such subsequent marriage:

Provided that where the payment of the pension is terminated as provided above, the children of the first marriage of the widow shall, as from the date of death of the spouse of their mother's subsequent marriage, be entitled to receive the shares they were receiving in terms of subsection (2) and the amount which their mother was receiving in terms of subsection (1), prior to such termination:

Provided further that in the event of the dissolution of such subsequent marriage, the widow shall be entitled to receive as pension the half share she received in terms of subsection (1) and the entitlement of the children under subsection (2) remains unchanged.”

Widowers' and Orphans' Pension (Amendment) Act No. 09 of 2010.

“4. Section 18 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following new section is substituted thereof:

18. (1) The widower of a contributor shall in his re marriage receive as pension after the date of such subsequent marriage,

(a) half the amount of the pension which he was receiving at the time of such subsequent marriage or
(b) where he was entitled to receive a pension but was not in actual receipt of the same, half of the amounts he was to receive in her capacity as a widow prior to such subsequent marriage

(2) The children of the first marriage of the widower shall receive the remaining portion of the pension received by the widower after the payment to the widower is made in terms of paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection 1. .

(3) Where the spouse of such subsequent marriage is also a contributor to the fund and where such widower becomes entitled to receive a pension upon the death of such spouse in respect of the contributions made to the Pension Scheme by such spouse, the payment of such amount as he was receiving as pension in terms of paragraph (a) and (b ) of subsection (1) shall be terminated with effect from the date of death of such spouse of such subsequent marriage:

Provided that where the payment of the pension is terminated as provided above, the children of the first marriage of the widower shall, as from the date of death of the spouse of their father's subsequent marriage, be entitled to receive the shares they were receiving in terms of subsection (2) and the amount which their father was receiving in terms of subsection (1), prior to such termination:

Provided further that in the event of the dissolution of such subsequent marriage, the widower shall be entitled to receive as pension the half share she received in terms of subsection (1) and the entitlement of the children under subsection (2) remains unchanged.”

From the date of the remarriage of the spouse, the entitlement to 50% of widows' and orphans' pension or 50% of the widowers and orphans' pension is granted.

Documents required for the purpose

PD 4 application
Death certificate of the contributor - First copies obtained from Additional District/ District Registrar
Birth certificate of the contributor - First copies obtained from Additional District/ District Registrar
Birth certificate of the spouse - First copies obtained from Additional District/ District Registrar
Marriage certificate
Certified copy of the National Identity Card of the contributor
Certified copy of the National Identity Card of the spouse
Certified copy of the bank pass book of spouse
A proper certification from the Head of Institution, if any difference is found in the name of the contributor
A proper affidavit or legal document to certify differences in the name of spouse, if such difference is found
Following documents of the previous of the spouse or contributor, if there are such previous marriages,
- Marriage certificates
- Divorce certificates to prove the way such marriages come to end (For Muslim and Kandyan marriages)
- Absolute order of the divorce&nbsp
- Death certificate
Birth certificates and bank details of the unemployed children below age of 26 years, who are from previous marriage of the contributor
Documents to prove the employment of orphans who are beyond the age of 26 years
Certified copies of the N I C of guardians of orphans and certified copies of their pass books of savings bank account
Marriage certificate to prove the remarriage of widow/widower

For this purpose, documents relevant to all spouses should be submitted.

Role of the relevant institutions in the application process

When a receiver of a widow/ widowers' pension is marry again, the application should be submitted through the relevant Divisional Secretariat and the applications of those whose payment of widow'/ widowers' pensions has not been commenced should be submitted through the institute where the male/ female contributor served for the last time 8 1

The officers in charge of the subject and serving attached to Divisional Secretariats should submit applications connected to the files, which have no issues, through DS Portal system using their access.

The applications pertaining to the files, which are with issues such as differences in names, obtaining excess amount of W&OP without informing about remarriages, changes occurred in residences etc., should be submitted to the Department of Pensions through non online system under Pensions Circular No. 06/2015 (1).

Acts, Ordinances and Circulars applied

Category Code numbers applied

Widows of armed forces, who marry again - 60
Civil Widows, who marry again - 61
Widowers, who marry again - 62