Man succeeds in making his partner his pension-fund beneficiary – despite different residences

An employee had submitted an application to a pension fund in which he had declared his partner to be his beneficiary. However, his partner did not live with him at the same residence.

The fund did not accept this because its regulations stipulate that benefits are only payable to partners who have resided in the same household for five years. The insured person argued that he lived with the woman, but that they lived alternately in two different flats due to their respective places of work.

The Zurich Social Security Court upheld the employee’s complaint and ruled that a common residence was not necessary according to the regulations. The decisive issue, according to the ruling, is whether or not the partners have resolved to cohabit, i.e. to live in a traditional two-person relationship. 

(Source: Social Insurance Court Ct. Zurich, BV.2018.00024, dated 7 September 2018)