AOW pension - You are going to get married or start living with someone

People who are married or who live with a partner receive an AOW pension at a different rate than people who live on their own. If you get married or start living with someone, the amount of AOW pension you receive will therefore change.

Marriage, living with a partner, or registered partnership

We do not distinguish between marriage, registered partnership and living with a partner.

Our definition of 'living with a partner'

The SVB will consider you to be living with a partner if:

• you live in the same house with someone who is 18 or older, and you
• share the household costs or
• look after each other

We refer to the person you share a house with as your 'partner'. This could be your husband, wife or friend, or a brother, sister, or grandchild.

What if you are each registered as living at a different address?

If someone is registered as living at a different address but lives with you in your home, we consider where their main place of residence is. We look at people's everyday behaviour to decide whether two people are sharing a household. This is not only a matter of sharing bills, but also of whether you share each other's possessions, such as a car, or help each other with household tasks, such as shopping, cooking and doing the laundry. Vice versa, if you have kept your own accommodation and continue to be registered as living there but are actually living with someone else in their house, you will be considered to be living with a partner.

You are married, but you do not live at the same address as your partner.

If you are married but you and your partner each live in your own homes, we will consider you to be living alone if:

• you both live your own lives as if you were not married;
• you both run your own separate households, and
• this situation is permanent.

Not included under the definition of living with a partner

You are not considered to be living with a partner if you live in one house with your child (your own child, or a foster child or stepchild), even if the child is 18 or over. Neither are you considered to be living with a partner if you live with a grandchild under 18 or rent a room to someone. In that case, you are each regarded as having your own accommodation. However, your house must be arranged for separate occupation, e.g. so that each person has his or her own living room and bedroom. In addition, you must be able to prove the commercial nature of the relationship with a contract, and reasonable market prices must have been agreed. Your administration must also show that the agreed rent or services have actually been paid for.

How much AOW pension will you get if you get married or start living with a partner?

If you live on your own, your AOW pension will be 70% of the net minimum wage. If you are married or living with someone, your AOW pension will be 50% of the net minimum wage. If you have both reached the AOW pension age, you will get a combined total of 100%.

If your partner is still under his or her AOW pension age, you may receive a supplementary allowance on top of your AOW pension. The supplementary allowance will also be 50% of the net minimum wage. Any income received by your partner will be deducted from the supplementary allowance.