Situations affecting your AOW pension

If you start living with another person, or a third person moves in, or if you start living alone, your AOW pension is likely to change.

The rate of your AOW pension can change if you move to a new address in the following situations:

• You move to live outside the Netherlands
• You have been living outside the Netherlands and move back to the Netherlands
• You live outside the Netherlands and move to another country

If you are married or in a registered partnership and your partner has been admitted to a nursing home for an indefinite period, you will continue to receive a pension at the rate for a person living with another adult. 

You can also opt to receive the higher rate for a person living alone. Receiving a higher pension sounds attractive, but there may sometimes be unforeseen negative consequences. For example, you may have to pay a higher personal contribution under the Long-term Care Act (Wlz) or Social Support Act (Wmo).

Your AOW pension will stop after you have been in prison, a detention centre or a closed treatment facility for 1 month. After your release, your AOW pension will start being paid again if you send us your release certificate.

If you have been sentenced to community service or involuntary treatment in a nursing home, psychiatric hospital (not a closed treatment facility) or other care institution, your AOW pension will continue to be paid.

If someone who was receiving an AOW pension dies, their entitlement to an AOW pension stops on the day after the date of death. Click on the link below to find out more about the arrangements to be made, and where the annual statement will be sent to.