The payment due to the death of a family member is an amount paid out to the relatives of a deceased person who was a beneficiary of the Social Security general or rural pension scheme (special pension scheme for agricultural workers) or the voluntary social insurance scheme.
The payment, amounting to EUR 1.611,39 (three times the amount of the social support index), is disbursed in one instalment.
Service channels
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Persons with the following ties to the deceased person may be entitled to the payment due to the death of a family member.
Spouse - If the marriage produced no children, the spouse is only entitled to the payment if:
they got married at least one year before the death, unless the death is the result of an accident or an illness that occurred or manifested itself only after getting married;
before the marriage they had been living in a civil partnership, and the civil partnership and marriage combined equals more than two years.
Divorced or legally separated spouse - In the event of a legal separation or a divorce, the survivor is only entitled to the payment in one of two situations:
if, at the time of death, the ex-spouse was receiving maintenance from the deceased, ordered or approved by the court;
if maintenance had not been awarded due to a judicially recognised lack of financial capacity on the part of the deceased.
Civil partnership - In non-marital partnership cases, partners are only entitled to the payment due to the death of a family member as long as neither the deceased or the survivor are married to anyone else.
Descendants, including unborn babies (babies still in the womb) and adoptees (fully adopted):
up to 18 years of age;
aged 18 or over, provided that they are not engaged in any economic activity requiring them to be covered by a social protection scheme. Economic activities carried out under an employment contract during periods of school holidays or where the annual amount of income from employment is no more than 14 times the minimum wage will not be taken into account in these cases, subject to the following conditions:
between 18 and 25 years old - as long as they are enrolled in a course of secondary, post-secondary, non-tertiary or further education,
up to the age of 27 - if they are enrolled in postgraduate studies, on a master’s or PhD or are completing a work placement that is necessary to obtain their degree,
no age limit – people with disabilities who, as such, receive family benefits or the social inclusion benefit.
Stepchildren (up to the age of 18) - provided that the deceased was obliged to pay them maintenance.
Descendants beyond the first degree (namely, grandchildren or great-grandchildren), are only entitled to the pension if they were dependent on the deceased when that person died.
Direct relatives in the ascending line (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) are entitled to the payment due to the death of a family member as long as they were dependent on the deceased when that person died, and if there is no spouse / civil partner or ex-spouse or any descendants of the deceased entitled to the payment due to the death of a family member.
If there are no family members as described above, the payment due to the death of a family member may be awarded to other collateral relatives in the direct line and up to the third degree of kinship, namely:
brothers or sisters
aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews
fathers-in-law or mothers-in-law
stepfathers or stepmothers
sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, or parents-in-law, or step-parents
children of stepchildren
brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law
children of brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law
siblings of parents-in-law or step-parents, provided they were dependent on the deceased when that person died.
NB: for the payment due to the death of a family member to be granted, the deceased must be a beneficiary of the Social Security general or rural pension scheme (special pension scheme for agricultural workers) or the voluntary social insurance scheme.
What are the documents and requirements to request the death grant?
The payment due to the death of a family member is granted to the deceased’s family members:
without the qualifying period under the Social Security general and rural pension scheme needing to be met;
who have paid in at least 36 months of contributions under the voluntary social insurance scheme.
The amount of the payment is EUR 1 611.39 , which corresponds to 3 x IAS (Social Support Index).
The amount of the IAS in 2026 is EUR 537.13.
Funeral benefit
Considering that this amount can be reimbursed to whoever paid for the funeral, regardless of whether they are family members or not, family members may not be entitled to the payment due to the death of a family member if this amount (EUR 1 611.39) covers the cost of the funeral.
If the funeral costs less than EUR 1 611.39, family members will be entitled to the difference, paid out as a payment due to the death of a family member.
For example: the funeral costs EUR 1 000. If the person who paid for the funeral is not the person entitled to receive the payment due to the death of a family member, the remaining EUR 611.39 will be paid to the family members who are entitled to the payment.