A widow is demanding 171,753 UAH in pension from the Pension Fund for her deceased husband - what was the court's decision?

The woman is a widow. Following her husband's death, she acquired the right to receive an accrued but unpaid pension amounting to 171,753 hryvnias. She demands that the Pension Fund of Ukraine (PFU) disburse this amount to her. This is stated in the decision of the Sloviansk City District Court of Donetsk Oblast, published on July 22, 2024.

The woman is the wife of the deceased man. After his passing, there remained an unpaid pension that he did not receive in his lifetime. On June 10, 2021, she obtained a certificate of inheritance rights, which pertains to the unpaid pension of the deceased amounting to 171,753 hryvnias. She submitted a request to the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast for the payment of the unpaid pension due to the pensioner's death, based on the inheritance rights certificate for the sum of 171,753 hryvnias.

According to the response from the Pension Fund of Ukraine dated November 2, 2023, “The amount of the unpaid pension of the deceased man for the period from June 13, 2018, to January 31, 2020, calculated based on three years from the date of the request for its payment up to and including the month of the pensioner’s death, amounts to 152,124.24 and is included in the List, subject to payment within the relevant financial resources. According to the specified procedure, the pension was paid in parts: in November 2022 - 530 hryvnias, in December 2022 - 2 hryvnias, in July 2023 - 557 hryvnias, in September 2023 - 2,093 hryvnias, and in October 2023 - 1,303 hryvnias.” As of November 1, 2023, the remaining unpaid pension totals 147,638 hryvnias. The woman believes that the actions of the PFU to reduce the inherited amount from 171,753 hryvnias to 152,124 hryvnias and to withhold the inheritance in the form of unpaid pension totaling 19,629 hryvnias are unlawful.

What did the court decide?

The court granted the woman's claim. The Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast was ordered to recalculate and pay the woman the amount of the deceased man’s unpaid pension of 19,629 hryvnias.

"Since it has been established during the court session that the unpaid pension of the deceased man amounts to 171,753 hryvnias, which was included in the inheritance after his death, and this inheritance has been formalized in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, the plaintiff has received a certificate of inheritance rights for the exact amount of 171,753 hryvnias, the defendant has transferred the inherited pension amount, and it has been calculated from the moment the plaintiff approached the Pension Fund with a request for pension payment, for the period from June 13, 2018, to January 31, 2020, totaling 152,124 hryvnias, therefore the unpaid inheritance, which the defendant does not recognize and which was unlawfully transferred by him, amounts to 19,629 hryvnias, and therefore these funds must also be paid to the plaintiff as property that was part of the inheritance," the court emphasized.