The Swiss pension system is strongly oriented towards married couples and traditional families. For unmarried couples, the rules are different. Cohabiting couples are clearly worse off than married couples, which makes the issue of pension provision important to address.
Old age and survivors' Insurance
With the OASI, unmarried couples are considered to be living alone. It does not matter how long the couple has lived together or whether they have children together. This means that in the event of the death of one of the partners, the surviving partner does not receive a widow's/widower's pension. Similarly, in the event of separation, unlike in the event of divorce of a married couple, the credits acquired during the marriage are not shared and are credited equally to each partner. Unmarried couples have nevertheless advantages in terms of the amount of the pension. These can be up to 33% higher than for married couples.
Professional Providence
If a spouse dies, the surviving partner is usually entitled to benefits from his or her pension fund. This is not necessarily the case for cohabiting couples. However, many pension funds offer to pay benefits to the partner under certain conditions. Often, for example, the cohabitation must have lasted at least five years at the time of death or there must be dependent children in common. In addition, a written beneficiary declaration must often be filed during the lifetime of the partner.
In contrast to the divorce of married couples, in the event of separation, cohabitants are not entitled to share the pension fund assets saved during the years of living together.
