Widow's pension and gender violence: Spain's Supreme Court bars capping it at spousal maintenance

Article 220 of the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (General Social Security Act) governs the widow's pension after separation, divorce or annulment. As a general rule, if the divorced person received a compensatory pension from the former spouse, the widow's pension cannot exceed that amount. The same article grants the pension in all cases to women who prove they were victims of gender violence at the time of the judicial separation or divorce.

The full Social Chamber has ruled that the compensatory pension cap does not apply to these women. According to the note from the Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Spain's judicial council), the court considers that their pension rests on the exceptional situation of being victims of gender violence and society's duty to protect them, not on compensating an economic imbalance.

According to several media outlets, the woman divorced in November 2020 with a compensatory pension of 600 euros a month. In February 2021 she reported her ex-husband to the Guardia Civil and obtained a restraining order. He died in February 2022 and her widow's pension was granted capped at those 600 euros.

Social Court No. 6 of Granada ruled in her favour, but the High Court of Justice of Andalusia overturned that judgment in March 2025. The Supreme Court has now upheld her appeal to unify case law and restored the first-instance ruling.

It affects divorced or separated women who were victims of gender violence by their deceased former spouse and whose widow's pension the INSS limited to the compensatory pension amount. It also matters to those applying now, as the INSS should not apply that cap to them.

Victim status can be proven with a final judgment, a protection order, a report from the public prosecutor finding signs of gender violence, or any other evidence admissible in law. How it is assessed depends on the documents in each case.

You can ask the INSS to review the amount of your widow's pension, providing the documents that prove the gender violence and relying on the Supreme Court ruling. If the INSS refuses, a reclamación previa (mandatory prior administrative claim) can be filed and then a claim before the Social Court.

Backdated payments and claim deadlines depend on each situation and on the date of the decision being challenged, so the full file should be reviewed before filing anything.