Will a widow's pension stop if you remarry? It depends on whether it is a State payment or a scheme pension, and on the dates involved.
Marrying again, forming a civil partnership or moving in with someone can end one survivor payment, leave another untouched and, for a few, hinge on the year the member's service happened. Each survivor payment follows its own rule, and an FCA-authorised adviser can match yours to the right one when they phone you after you submit this page's enquiry form, which costs nothing.
Does a widow's pension stop if I remarry or live with someone?
It can, but there is no single rule, because "widow's pension" is used for four different kinds of payment.
- State Pension from your late spouse or civil partner: lost if you marry again or enter a civil partnership before reaching State Pension age.
- Old State benefits (Widow's Pension, Widowed Parent's Allowance): the rules ended or barred them on remarriage, and living with a new partner stopped or barred both.
- Public-service survivor pensions: depends on the scheme and on when the member's service or membership fell. Some newer rules keep the pension for life.
- Private defined benefit schemes: the scheme's own rules decide.
How long each payment lasts when nothing changes is in how long a widow's pension is paid, and what moving overseas does is in a widow's pension if you live abroad.
What happens to State Pension and State payments if I remarry?
An inherited State Pension is the one at risk. Under the new State Pension, GOV.UK says nothing can be inherited by a survivor who marries again or enters a new civil partnership ahead of reaching State Pension age. The older Additional State Pension has the same condition, and what could be inherited at all is covered in inheriting Additional State Pension.
Bereavement Support Payment, which replaced the older benefits for deaths from 6 April 2017, looks at your situation when your partner died: you must then have been married, in a civil partnership or "living with them as if you were married", and an unmarried partner also needed a Child Benefit or pregnancy link. Whether a new relationship alters instalments still being paid is something an adviser can explain for nothing when they phone you back.
The older benefits are stricter. DWP's Widowed Parent's Allowance guide says you cannot claim if you "have remarried or formed a new civil partnership" or are "living with another person as if you’re married or in a civil partnership with them", and anyone already receiving it must tell Dover Benefit Centre if they remarry, form a civil partnership or start to live with a partner as husband or wife. The original Widow's Pension, for husbands who died before 9 April 2001, was governed by section 38 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992: "The widow shall not be entitled to the pension for any period after she remarries", and the same applied after a civil partnership. Section 38 also stopped it for any period she lived with someone as a couple.
Which public-service pensions stop on remarriage or living together?
Public-service schemes used to end a survivor's pension in these cases, and many have since changed. Read each row against the member's dates.
| Scheme | What the scheme says about a new relationship |
|---|---|
| NHS | Where membership extended to or beyond 1 April 2008, NHS Pensions' guide says the pension is "payable for life regardless of whether the recipient remarries, forms a civil partnership or lives with someone else as a spouse or partner". For earlier membership it "will normally end", though it may be reinstated in severe financial hardship. |
| Teachers (England and Wales) | A member with pensionable employment from 1 January 2007 onwards leaves a pension paid for life. With none, Teachers' Pensions says "the pension will cease if the adult dependant remarries, enters a civil partnership or cohabits". |
| Civil Service | Classic: the pension "will either stop or reduce", with restoration possible if the new relationship ends and the survivor is left worse off, or for exceptional compassionate reasons. Classic plus: the part built on pre-October 2002 service stops, and may be restored; the premium part is paid for life. Premium: the adult dependant pension "is paid for life". Nuvos: the pension "will continue for the rest of their life". |
| Armed Forces | The 2005 and 2015 scheme guides say a dependant's pension is payable for life whatever the survivor's new circumstances. In the 1975 scheme, Veterans UK's July 2020 guide makes the pension payable for life for attributable deaths from 31 October 2000 and non-attributable deaths from 1 April 2015; one suspended before 1 April 2015 remains so, but the survivor can apply for restoration once that relationship ends. |
| Police | 1987 scheme: the pension stops, or falls to the children's pensions, and may on application be restored at the police authority's discretion. The 2006 and 2015 schemes pay adult survivors for life. In Scotland, the SPPA's 1987 scheme section says pensions are paid for life unless the survivor cohabits, forms a civil partnership or remarries; its 2006 and 2015 sections say they are payable for life. |
| Local government (LGPS) | The England and Wales member site says a spouse's, civil partner's or eligible cohabiting partner's pension is paid "for the rest of their life". The Scottish site adds that where the member left before 1 April 1998 "the pension may stop". |
The Scottish LGPS rule turns on when the member left, so the fund that pays you can confirm your position, and an adviser will go over which period yours falls in, at no cost, if you pass your details on through the page form. Where a 1987 scheme officer died on duty, a Home Office note says a survivor on a special or augmented award under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 keeps it for life despite a marriage, civil partnership or cohabitation from 1 April 2015; a pension given up before then is not reinstated by that change.
Does a private scheme pension stop if I remarry?
Whether it does is written into that scheme's rules, and employers set their own. The Pension Protection Fund, which pays compensation when an employer's scheme fails, says that whether spouses, civil partners or relevant partners are eligible "will depend on the rules of the member’s former pension scheme".
The scheme's booklet, usually under spouse's or dependant's pension, should say whether a new marriage, civil partnership or living together changes things. Personal pensions and annuities follow a different logic, set out on the how-long page. For employer pensions more widely, see workplace pensions on death, final salary pensions after a death and PPF death benefits.
What is worth checking before you remarry or move in with a partner?
Getting the answer in writing is the best protection, since the effect often turns on a date rather than on the relationship itself.
- Ask each scheme or DWP which rule applies to your payment and from what date, and keep the reply.
- Check whether the pension could be restored if the new relationship ended.
- If you receive Widowed Parent's Allowance, report the change to Dover Benefit Centre. DWP says you may have to repay money if you did not report a change straight away.
These answers sit with several organisations. On one call, an adviser can go through every survivor payment you have or may inherit and what each rule means for your household budget. Leave your number through the enquiry form and the call-back costs you nothing.
Common worries when a widow or widower meets someone new
Why has my widow's pension stopped?
Often the payment was time-limited, as Bereavement Support Payment is; how long a widow's pension is paid explains those end dates. A scheme pension can also stop under the rules above. The letter that came with the change, or the scheme itself, will give the reason.
Does a widow get her husband's pension?
Often something is payable, but what depends on the pension. The routes are laid out in how pension death benefits work, and how to claim a widow's pension covers applying.
Can a stopped survivor's pension be restored?
Some schemes allow it. The Civil Service classic scheme says it may restore a pension if the new relationship ends, and the 1987 police scheme allows it at the authority's discretion, on application. NHS Pensions says it may reinstate a pension if losing it causes severe financial hardship. Each has its own test.
Does living together without marrying count?
In some schemes it does. The Teachers' Pensions, Civil Service classic and 1987 police wording above all name cohabiting, and DWP's Widowed Parent's Allowance guide refers to living with another person as if married. Other schemes, such as the Armed Forces 2005 and 2015 schemes, say the pension is paid for life irrespective of cohabitation.
If these payments make up part of your income, an adviser can talk through the pensions side with you, free, after you request a call-back.