Survivor's Pension in Italy: How Much Your Family Really Gets

Reversionary or indirect pension: what is the difference?

In Italy the survivor's pension (pensione ai superstiti) has two names, depending on who dies. If the deceased was already retired, the family receives the reversionary pension (pensione di reversibilità), calculated as a percentage of the pension they were drawing. If they were still working, the family receives the indirect pension (pensione indiretta), calculated on the pension accrued up to the date of death (INPS, "Pensione ai superstiti" information page). INPS is Italy's state pension and social security institute.

The indirect pension has one more requirement: the worker must have 15 years of contributions (780 weeks), or 5 years (260 weeks) of which at least 3 in the five years before death (INPS, circular 185/2015, point 1). Without these requirements the family is entitled at most to a one-off allowance.

In both cases the pension runs from the month after death and does not arrive by itself: it has to be claimed from INPS, also through a patronato (a free advice centre recognised by INPS).

Who is entitled to a survivor's pension?

According to the INPS information page and circular 185/2015, in this order:

1. The spouse or civil partner, with no other conditions. This includes a separated spouse; if the separation was ruled to be their fault, INPS requires that they were receiving a maintenance allowance set by the court.
2. The divorced spouse, if they were receiving periodic divorce maintenance, have not remarried, and the deceased's employment began before the divorce ruling (Law 898/1970, art. 9). If there is also a new spouse, the court divides the shares.
3. Children: minors; up to 21 if at secondary school or on a vocational course; up to 26 if at university, within the course's standard length; at any age if unable to work. Adult children must have been dependent on the parent. Minor grandchildren dependent on their grandparents count as children.
4. Parents, only if there is no entitled spouse or child: they must be at least 65, have been dependent on the deceased and have no pension.
5. Unmarried brothers and sisters, only if there are no entitled parents either: unable to work, dependent and without a pension.

How much is paid? INPS's percentages

The shares are set by Law 903/1965 and Law 335/1995, art. 1, paragraph 41, and INPS lists them as follows:

The amounts are gross, paid over 13 instalments like the deceased's pension, and before any income-related cut.

Myth 1: "A survivor's pension is 60% of the pension"

60% applies only to a spouse left on their own. With dependent children the family reaches 80% or 100%. Conversely, a spouse with a good income of their own and no dependent children can fall to 30% (60% halved). And if the deceased was still working, the base is not even the salary: it is the pension accrued up to that day, often much lower.

When does the spouse's income reduce the pension?

The survivor's pension can be combined with the beneficiary's income only within the limits of Table F of Law 335/1995. The thresholds are multiples of the annual INPS minimum pension (trattamento minimo), which for 2026 is €7,954.05 (€611.85 over 13 instalments, a provisional figure from INPS circular 153/2025).

The thresholds are our own calculation: €7,954.05 multiplied by 3, 4 and 5. INPS has not yet published the 2026 table, and the minimum will be adjusted in the balancing review at the start of 2027.

Three rules matter as much as the thresholds:

• The cut does not apply if the household includes children who are minors, students or unable to work and entitled to the pension. And it never touches the children's shares: it concerns the spouse, parents and siblings.
• Which income counts: income subject to IRPEF (Italian personal income tax), net of social security contributions. Severance pay (TFR) and its advances, the family home, arrears taxed separately and the survivor's pension itself are left out (INPS circular 185/2015, point 9).
• The cut cannot exceed the income that triggers it. This was established by the Constitutional Court in ruling 162/2022, adopted by INPS in circular 108/2023.

How much is left, in euros, on a €2,000 pension?

Take a retiree with €2,000 gross a month, €26,000 a year over 13 instalments. His widow, with no dependent children, is entitled to 60%: €15,600 a year, €1,200 a month. Here is what she keeps, depending on her own income.

Why is the cut 7.3% at €25,000 and not 25%? Because of the safeguard clause in Law 335/1995: income and reduced pension together cannot fall below what someone sitting exactly at the top of the previous band would have. At €23,862.15 the widow keeps the full share, €39,462 in total; at €25,000 she must have at least as much, so the share falls to €14,462, not to €11,700. We applied the rule row by row, with the same calculation our simulator uses.

Myth 2: "If I work, I lose the survivor's pension"

No. No level of income takes the survivor's pension away: at most it halves it, and only above €39,770 of own income. Below €23,862 there is no cut at all, and with minor or student children in the household there is none at any income.

There is, however, a zone where working more does not pay. With a share of €15,600 a year (60% of a €2,000 monthly pension), between €23,862 and about €27,762 of income every extra euro earned takes one euro off the pension: the total stays fixed at €39,462 gross. The same happens just above the second threshold (up to about €34,156) and the third (up to about €41,330). The width of the zone is 25%, 15% and 10% of the annual share.

If your income is close to a threshold, a pay rise, a bonus or extra rental income should also be weighed with this calculation.

What happens when the children grow up?

The percentage is recalculated every time a child loses entitlement. Take a retiree with €2,000 gross a month and a widow who earns €40,000 a year, with a 15-year-old child.

• While the child is entitled (up to 18, 21 if at secondary school, 26 if at university) the family receives 80%: €1,200 to the mother and €400 to the child, €1,600 a month. There is no income cut, because the household includes an entitled child.
• When the child leaves, the mother is left alone at 60% and the third-band cut applies, with the safeguard: €702 a month.

The family's pension drops from €1,600 to €702 gross a month, a 56% fall, on the day the child has a birthday or finishes studying. It is a date known in advance: it is worth marking it.

Myth 3: "If I remarry, I lose everything"

A spouse who remarries loses their share, but receives a one-off payment of two years of the share being paid, including the thirteenth instalment (INPS information page). With a share of €1,200 a month that comes to €31,200 gross. The children's shares continue.

What is the indirect pension worth when the deceased was still working?

This is where the biggest surprise lies. Under the contribution-based system, the pension is the accumulated contributions multiplied by a coefficient that depends on age. If the worker dies before 57, the law still uses the coefficient for age 57 (Law 335/1995, art. 1, paragraph 14), which for 2025-2026 is 4.204% (directorial decree of 20 November 2024). And only what was paid in up to that day counts.

A simplified example: an employee aged 45, with 20 years of contributions on a salary of €35,000 gross a year. With the 33% accrual rate (same law, art. 1, paragraph 10) the accumulated contributions are 35,000 × 33% × 20 = €231,000. The theoretical pension is 231,000 × 4.204% = €9,711 a year, €747 a month over 13 instalments.

Wife and two children receive 100%: €747 a month, against a salary of €2,692 gross a month. That is 28% of the previous income. If only the wife survives, €448 a month.

In the real calculation the accumulated contributions are revalued every year, and anyone with contributions before 1996 is partly on a different formula: the figure would be somewhat higher, but the order of magnitude stays.

The survivor's pension is gross: how much is left after income tax (IRPEF)?

The survivor's pension is pension income and pays IRPEF like any other pension, with the 2026 brackets of 23%, 33% and 43% (Law 199/2025).

The examples start from a deceased's pension of €2,000 gross a month.

• Widow with no other income, €15,600 a year: IRPEF at 23% comes to €3,588, less a €1,498 pension income tax credit (TUIR, the Consolidated Income Tax Act, art. 13). That leaves €2,090 of tax, about €161 a month: she takes home about €1,040 of the €1,200 gross, before regional and municipal surcharges.
• Widow with €40,000 of income: the €9,130 share is added to her income and is taxed at 33% at least. Of the €702 gross a month, about €470 at most is left.
• Orphans: their survivor's pension counts for IRPEF only on the part above €1,000 a year (Law 232/2016, art. 1, paragraph 249, cited in INPS circular 153/2025, point 7.3).

How much does the family lose each month?

Five families, with the 2026 rules and in today's gross euros: the retiree has €2,000 a month, the worker a salary of €35,000 a year and 20 years of contributions.

Over twenty years, leaving inflation aside, the first case is worth €208,000 and the third about €337,000. These are the sums the family will have to cover with savings, with its own work or with protection arranged beforehand. We discuss how life insurance can cover this gap in Life insurance: when protecting becomes an act of love, and how to build wealth that also withstands the unexpected in Peace of mind and protection: investing with tomorrow in mind.

So what should you check?

1. The family today and in ten years: the dates on which the children leave the household are the dates on which the pension falls.
2. The spouse's income against the thresholds: close to €23,862, €31,816 or €39,770, the cut changes a great deal with a few thousand euros.
3. Whether the main earner is still working: the indirect pension of someone in their forties is often a fraction of the salary.
4. Special cases (separation, divorce, professional pension funds with their own rules, contributions in several schemes): here you need the calculation from INPS or a patronato.
5. The gap that remains, in euros a month and in years: it is the measure to start from when deciding whether to protect yourself. Our survivor's pension simulator shows it year by year.

Glossary

• Survivor's pension (pensione ai superstiti): the pension INPS pays to the family of a retiree or an insured worker after their death.
• Reversionary pension (pensione di reversibilità): the survivor's pension when the deceased was already retired; it is a percentage of their pension.
• Indirect pension (pensione indiretta): the survivor's pension when the deceased was still working; it is calculated on the pension accrued up to death.
• Minimum pension (trattamento minimo): the base amount of INPS pensions, €611.85 a month in 2026 (provisional); it is the unit of measure for many income limits.
• Table F (Tabella F): the annex to Law 335/1995 that sets the cuts to the survivor's pension by the beneficiary's income.
• Safeguard clause: the rule under which income and reduced pension together do not fall below what would be due at the top of the previous band.
• Accumulated contributions (montante contributivo): the sum of contributions paid, revalued every year, on which the pension is calculated in the contribution-based system.
• Transformation coefficient: the percentage that turns accumulated contributions into an annual pension; it rises with age.

Sources

• INPS, "Pensione ai superstiti indiretta e di reversibilità" information page, updated 12 June 2026 (beneficiaries, percentages, Table F, ruling 162/2022, start date, remarriage) (in Italian).
• INPS, circular 185 of 18 November 2015, guidelines on the survivor's pension (indirect pension requirements, separated and divorced spouse, children and those treated as children, parents and siblings, income to be counted) (in Italian).
• INPS, circular 153 of 19 December 2025 (2026 minimum pension: €611.85 a month, €7,954.05 a year; €1,000 exemption for orphans) (in Italian).
• INPS, circular 108 of 22 December 2023 (application of ruling 162/2022) (in Italian).
• Constitutional Court, ruling 162 of 8-30 June 2022 (in Italian).
• Law 335 of 8 August 1995, art. 1, paragraphs 10, 14 and 41, and Table F (in Italian).
• Law 903 of 21 July 1965, art. 22 (in Italian).
• Law 898 of 1 December 1970, art. 9, divorced spouse (in Italian).
• Ministry of Labour, directorial decree of 20 November 2024, transformation coefficients 2025-2026 (in Italian).
• Law 199 of 30 December 2025, 2026 IRPEF brackets; Presidential Decree 917/1986 (TUIR), art. 13, paragraph 3, pension income tax credit (in Italian).
• Law 232 of 11 December 2016, art. 1, paragraph 249, orphans' pensions (in Italian).