Large and small widow’s pension in Germany (2026)
Whether more than half of your late spouse’s pension remains, or a quarter for two years, depends on your age, your children and the year of death.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Large or small widow’s pension?
Entitlement
small pension
| Age limit in that year | 46 y 6 m |
| Share of the pension | 25 % |
| Before the income test | €400 |
The small pension stops after 24 months unless the old rules apply.
The German widow’s pension (Witwenrente) comes in two forms (section 46 SGB VI). The large widow’s pension (große Witwenrente) is 55 % of the deceased’s pension and has no time limit; it goes to anyone raising a child under 18, who is themselves unable to work (erwerbsgemindert), or who has reached an age limit when the spouse dies. That limit rises with the year of death: 46 years and 2 months for a death in 2024, 46 years and 6 months in 2026, 46 years and 10 months in 2028 and 47 from 2029 (section 242a). If none of these applies, you receive the small widow’s pension (kleine Witwenrente): 25 % of the pension, for at most 24 months. A €1,600 pension thus gives €880 as a large or €400 as a small widow’s pension. Under the old rules, for a marriage before 2002 where one partner was born before 2 January 1962, the large pension is 60 %, or €960, and the small one has no time limit. The full pension is paid for the first three months after the death.
Three routes to the large widow’s pension
Under section 46(2) SGB VI the large widow’s pension goes to anyone who meets at least one of three conditions: raising a child under 18, being unable to work themselves, or having reached a certain age when the spouse died. If none applies, the small widow’s pension under section 46(1) remains. The same rules apply to widowers. The gap is wide: 55 % against 25 % of the deceased’s pension, one paid for life, the other for 24 months.
Age limit by year of death
| Year of death | Age limit for the large widow’s pension |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 46 years and 2 months |
| 2025 | 46 years and 4 months |
| 2026 | 46 years and 6 months |
| 2027 | 46 years and 8 months |
| 2028 | 46 years and 10 months |
| from 2029 | 47 |
The limit rises by two months per year of death until 2028 and stays at 47 from 2029 (section 242a SGB VI). What matters is the date of death, not your own year of birth. A widow who loses her husband in October 2026 at 46 years and 8 months is above the 46 years and 6 months limit and receives the large pension. Had the same death occurred in 2028, she would have missed the limit of 46 years and 10 months.
What each pension gives from €1,600
| Phase or variant | Share | A month | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| First three months | 100 % | €1,600 | 3 months |
| Large widow’s pension | 55 % | €880 | for life |
| Small widow’s pension | 25 % | €400 | up to 24 months |
| Large, old rules | 60 % | €960 | for life |
| Small, old rules | 25 % | €400 | for life |
The shares are the pension type factors in section 67 SGB VI. For the first three months after the death (Sterbevierteljahr), the full pension of the deceased is paid and no income is counted. After that the lower share applies, and your own income above an allowance is partly deducted; see widow’s pension and your own income.
Old rules: 60 % and no time limit
For marriages concluded before 2002, the old rules still apply if one partner was born before 2 January 1962 (section 255 SGB VI). Both conditions must be met. A couple who married in 1995 where the older partner was born in 1960 qualifies; a couple who married in 1995, both born in 1965, does not. Under the old rules the large pension is 60 % and the small pension does not stop after 24 months. If the spouse died before 2002, there is no time limit either.
The deceased’s reduction lives on
If your spouse retired early, the widow’s pension carries the same reduction (section 77(3) SGB VI). With a start 36 months before the age limit, 10.8 % is missing: €1,600 became €1,427.20, and the large widow’s pension falls from €880 to €784.96. Couples weighing an early start should count this second effect.
Conditions on the deceased’s side and the claim
Your late spouse must have completed the general qualifying period of five years (section 50 SGB VI). For international couples this is often the open question: periods in other EU and EEA countries and Switzerland count towards those five years (Regulation (EC) No 883/2004), but Germany pays only on the German periods. The marriage must normally have lasted at least a year. The widow’s pension starts in the month the conditions are met, but is paid back no more than twelve months before the application (section 99 SGB VI), so a claim delayed by paperwork from abroad costs money from the 13th month. The procedure is under applying for the pension; the widow’s pension calculator works out the amount with all inputs.