The spouse receives a partner pension from the pension fund. A pension may be claimed even if the deceased person was already in retirement. Under certain conditions, children of the deceased may be entitled to an orphans' pension.
What happens with the pension assets of your partner after their death?
With Vita, under certain circumstances, partners may also be entitled to a partner pension or a lump-sum death benefit. To receive a partner pension from the pension fund, you must have had your partnership registered and shared a household with them for at least five years at the time of death. If you did not share a common household, then you may, under certain conditions, still be entitled to a lump-sum death benefit.
In the notification regarding beneficiaries of lump-sum death benefits you can name your life partner as beneficiary for lump-sum death benefits. Provided you and your partner share a common household, please use the Notification regarding domestic partnerships form.
Please send the form to:
Zurich Insurance Company Ltd
BVG Services
P.O. Box
8085 Zurich
bvg@zurich.ch
We recommend that you notify us of the name of your partner as early as possible.
What happens with the pension assets of a single person after their death?
If an insured person who is single passes away, the pension fund pays out the lump-sum death benefit to the beneficiaries in accordance with applicable regulations. If the insured person has no spouse or entitled life partner, the insured person's children, parents and siblings have priority as beneficiaries. It is not possible to bequeath assets from the pension fund to other persons (such as ex-partners, colleagues or charitable foundations).