Frequently asked questions when an AOW pensioner dies

If you are the partner of the deceased, a death grant is paid to you automatically. You do not have to do anything. The amount of the death grant is equal to 1 month’s AOW pension, AOW top-up and holiday allowance.

If we have paid too much in AOW pension and AOW top-up, we will deduct the overpaid amount from the death grant.

If there is no surviving partner, the death grant can be paid to the deceased’s children under 18. If there are no children under 18, the death grant can be paid to the person who shared a household with the deceased.

We will stop paying AOW pension and the AOW top-up on the day after the date of death. If AOW pension and the AOW top-up have already been paid for the full month, we may have paid too much. We will deduct the overpaid amount from the holiday allowance that is still owing.

There are 2 possibilities:

• the deceased was living with someone that the SVB regards as a ‘partner’: in that case, the overpayment is deducted from the death grant and the remaining amount is paid to the partner
• the deceased was living alone: in that case, the deceased’s relatives may be required to repay a certain amount to us

The deceased will have accrued holiday allowance from the previous May until the date of death. We will pay this holiday allowance into the deceased’s bank account. If we have paid too much AOW pension and AOW top-up, we will deduct the overpaid amount before we pay the holiday allowance.

The last annual statement is sent with our letter about the deceased’s AOW pension to the last address we had for the deceased.

It is important to keep the annual statement. Annual statements cannot be sent digitally. 

It is not possible to log in to the My SVB account of a deceased person to view their details.

No, not if someone dies in the Netherlands. But you will need to inform the municipality (gemeente) where the death occurred. The gemeente will report the death to us.

NB You will need to report the death to us if it occurred outside the Netherlands, for example during a holiday. You should report the death to us within 4 weeks, but preferably as soon as possible so that we can stop the pension payments. We will then send a letter to the surviving partner or relatives to inform them of the consequences for the deceased’s AOW pension.

If the deceased lived outside the Netherlands, you should report the death to us as soon as possible, but within 6 weeks. If you report the death without delay, this will help us stop the pension before any overpayments occur. 

We will send a letter to the surviving partner or relatives to inform them of the consequences for the deceased’s AOW pension.