How your living situation can affect your Anw survivor benefit

If you have a shared household , you will generally not qualify for an Anw survivor benefit.

You are regarded as having a shared household if:

• you live in the same house with someone who is 18 or over, and
• you both contribute to the household. This means that we regard you as ‘caring for each other’. People can care for each other in 2 ways:
  • by contributing to the household costs, such as housing costs, general living expenses and other costs, or
  • by doing general household chores such as cleaning, shopping, doing the paperwork and cooking, and looking after each other if someone falls ill

Financial contributions or mutual care must be significant and not just incidental.

Situation 1: a contribution is made to the household

The person you live with contributes to the household. This means that you share a household and you will not qualify for an Anw survivor benefit. Every situation is different. We also assess your personal situation. 

Situation 2: no contribution is made to the household

The person you live with does not contribute to the household. We do not regard this as a shared household. This means that you can qualify for an Anw survivor benefit. If the person you are living with is 27 or over, this person is called a ‘co-resident’ . A co-resident can be anybody, including your child, or your father or mother. If you live with a co-resident, you may be able to get a reduced amount of Anw survivor benefit, provided that you meet the other qualifying conditions for the benefit.  

You will always be regarded as having a shared household if you and the other person:

• were married to each other in the past 
• cohabited in the past 
• have a child together (your own child or an acknowledged child) 
• have a cohabitation agreement drawn up by a notary  
• if your household has already been classed as a shared household under another Dutch law or benefit scheme

If you let part of your house to someone, or if you rent accommodation yourself and live in the same house as your landlord or landlady, you may have a ‘commercial relationship’. In this situation, you may qualify for an Anw survivor benefit.

You will only be regarded as having a commercial relationship if:

• you share a house with 1 or more people. For example, you let a room to someone or you rent a room yourself. Alternatively, or you are, or have taken in, a lodger .
• you and the other person or persons in the house have a strictly commercial (businesslike) relationship with each other
• a written agreement about this exists between you and the other person or persons
• you can prove this by showing an agreement and bank statements

Use our agreements

You should always record commercial relationships in an agreement. Download an agreement that meets all the conditions.

For the purposes of an Anw survivor benefit, you will not be regarded as having a commercial relationship if:

• you were married to the other person or cohabited with them in the past
• you have a child together, or the child of one of you has been recognised by the other
• you and the other person have a cohabitation agreement that was drawn up by a notary
• your household has already been classed as a shared household under another Dutch law or benefit scheme

If you have a commercial relationship, we will assess whether you have a shared household.

If you are living with someone because they require extensive care or because you require extensive care, you may qualify for an Anw survivor benefit. You are not regarded as having a shared household with this person.

If you live with 1 or more co-residents , you will not be entitled to the full amount of Anw survivor benefit. It does not matter how many co-residents you live with because their income is disregarded for the purposes of calculating your Anw survivor benefit.

A co-resident:

• is a person aged 27 or over who lives at the same address as you
• can be a friend or acquaintance, a child, brother, sister, or another relative. Your relationship with the co-resident is not relevant.

It does not matter whether a co-resident contributes to the household costs. You do not have a shared household with this person.

A person is not a co-resident if:

• you let part of your house to them. Likewise, you are not a co-resident if you rent part of a house from someone else
• they are a lodger in your house. Likewise, you are not a co-resident if you are a lodger in someone else’s house
• they are aged 30 or under, are attending school and can get a study grant