Back in a relationship with my ex?
Back in a relationship with my ex?
Separated for 8 years, my ex-husband and I divorced 5 years ago. Now that we're retired, we're getting on well and we've become close again, to the point where we're thinking of living together again! We're afraid that the Compensation Office will suspect us of wanting to keep our two full AVS pensions and that they could be changed, especially as we still have the same surname. What does the law say about this?
M, Geneva
As a pensioner, you are right to reflect on this question before considering re-establishing a "community of roof, table and bed" - as the case law poetically puts it - with your ex-husband.
In fact, as you mentioned, Article 35 of the Federal Law on Old Age and Survivors' Insurance stipulates that the sum of the two pensions for a couple may not exceed 150 % of the maximum amount of the individual old-age pension if both spouses are entitled to such a pension. In other words, married people do not receive two full AHV pensions (i.e. a maximum of two times CHF 2,390) but only one-and-a-half times the maximum pension to which one person is entitled, i.e. currently a maximum of CHF 3,585 per month for the couple.
On the other hand, spouses who no longer live in the same household following a court decision are no longer subject to this ceiling. This concept of the end of the common household, which is open to interpretation, had to be clarified in a directive on pensions issued by the Federal Social Insurance Office, under which spouses are no longer considered to be living in the same household if their separation has been declared by a judge (typically following a divorce) or if the couple is separated temporarily or for an indefinite period following a procedure for measures to protect the marital union.
As a divorced couple, it is therefore logical that you and your ex-spouse each currently receive a full AVS pension. However, the above-mentioned OFAS directive also stipulates that pensions remain capped at 150% of the maximum pension if the ex-spouses continue to live together after their separation or if they resume living together. Your decision to move back into the same home with your ex-spouse could therefore result in a reduction in your respective AVS/AHV pensions...
