Reader Loc Thi Lanh in Bac Ninh asked, if a person receiving a pension dies, will their relatives be entitled to any benefits? If there is a benefit level, what is it?
Lawyer Nguyen Thu Trang, Deputy Director of Heva Law Company Limited, said that Article 86 of the Law on Social Insurance stipulates the cases of receiving monthly survivor's allowance as follows:
Subjects specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Law, when they die or are declared dead by the Court in one of the following cases, the relatives specified in Clause 2 of this Article are entitled to monthly death benefits:
Have a compulsory social insurance contribution period of 15 years or more.
Is receiving a pension or is temporarily suspending pension benefits.
Death due to work accidents, occupational diseases according to the provisions of law on occupational safety and hygiene.
Currently enjoying or temporarily suspending monthly occupational accident and disease allowance with a working capacity reduction of 61% or more.
Relatives of subjects specified in Clause 1 of this Article are entitled to monthly survivor's allowance, including:
Children, including children when the mother is pregnant and the father dies, children when female surrogate workers are pregnant and the father or mother who asked for surrogacy dies, are entitled to benefits until they are 18 years old.
The child has a working capacity reduction of 81% or more.
Spouses who are old enough as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code. Spouses who are not old enough as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code but have a working capacity reduction of 81% or more.
Biological father, biological mother; biological father, biological mother of wife or husband; other family members who are old enough as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code that the person specified in Clause 1 of this Article is obliged to raise according to the provisions of the law on marriage and family.
Biological father, biological mother; biological father, biological mother of wife or husband; other family members who are not old enough as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code and have a working capacity reduction of 81% or more that social insurance participants are obliged to nurture in accordance with the law on marriage and family.
Monthly survivor's allowance is not applied to relatives specified in points b, c, d and d of clause 2 of this Article who are receiving salaries and participating in compulsory social insurance or are receiving pensions, monthly loss of working capacity allowances, monthly allowances whose benefit level is equal to or higher than the reference level, excluding allowances according to the provisions of law on preferential treatment for people with meritorious services to the revolution.
The results of the assessment of the level of working capacity reduction to receive monthly survivor's allowance must be determined no later than 06 months from the date the social insurance participant dies or from the date the relative specified in point a, clause 2 of this Article expires the benefit period as prescribed.
Regarding the monthly survivor's allowance level, it is stipulated in Article 87 of the Law on Social Insurance as follows:
The monthly survivor's allowance level for each relative is equal to 50% of the reference level; in case the relative has no direct caregiver, the monthly survivor's allowance level is equal to 70% of the reference level.
In case a person dies or is declared dead by the Court and falls under the subjects specified in Clause 1, Article 86 of this Law, the number of relatives entitled to monthly survivor's allowance is a maximum of 04 people; in case there are 02 or more deaths or are declared dead by the Court, relatives are entitled to 02 times the allowance level specified in Clause 1 of this Article.
The time of receiving monthly survivor's allowance is calculated from the first day of the month immediately after the month in which the subject specified in Clause 1, Article 86 of this Law dies or is declared dead by the Court.
In case the child is born after the time the father, the father who is the husband of the mother who asked for surrogacy or the mother who asked for surrogacy dies, the time to receive monthly survivor's allowance for the child is calculated from the month the child was born.
Thus, according to current regulations, if a person receiving a pension dies, their relatives who are eligible according to regulations will be entitled to monthly death benefits.
