Other INSS pensions: in favour of family members and death grant

When a person who was working or receiving a pension dies, the Seguridad Social recognises death and survival benefits. The most well-known are the widowhood pension for the spouse or civil partner and the orphanhood pension for the children. Alongside these, there are 2 lesser-known benefits from the INSS: the pension in favour of family members and the death grant.

The pension in favour of family members protects other relatives who are neither the spouse nor the children: grandchildren, siblings, fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers who lived with the deceased and depended on them financially. It is a periodic pension paid every month, in 14 payments.

The death grant is different: it is not a pension, but a single payment to help cover the costs of the burial or cremation, which is paid to the person who has borne them.

Both are requested from the National Institute of Social Security (INSS). Managora checks which ones you are entitled to, gathers the documentation and submits the application for you.

The beneficiaries can be the relatives of the deceased who lived with them and were dependent on them, and who meet the age, marital status and income requirements that the law demands for each group. It is not enough to be a relative: you must prove cohabitation and financial dependence.

There are 4 protected groups: grandchildren and siblings of the deceased who are orphans of both father and mother and are minors or incapacitated for work; widowed, single, separated or divorced mothers and grandmothers, or those married to a spouse over 60 years old or incapacitated; fathers and grandfathers over 60 years old or incapacitated for all work; and children and siblings of the pensioner over 45 years old who are single, widowed, separated or divorced, and who prove they have dedicated themselves to caring for the deceased.

The table below summarises the requirements for each group. If your case fits into several, Managora identifies the route that entitles you to the benefit.

In addition to fitting into one of the groups, all applicants must meet 4 general conditions: having lived with the deceased and at their expense for at least the 2 years prior to the death; not having the right to another public pension; lacking their own means of living, meaning income equal to or less than the Minimum Interprofessional Wage; and not having other relatives with the legal obligation and possibility to provide them with maintenance.

The deceased person must have generated the right in the same way as for widowhood: being registered or in a situation assimilated to registration with the required contribution period, or being a retirement or permanent incapacity pensioner. In the route for children and siblings over 45 years old, it is also required that the deceased was a pensioner.

The usual documentation includes: the signed official application form, the applicant's ID or NIE (foreigner identity number), the death certificate of the deceased, the family book or another document proving the relationship, the certificate of empadronamiento (registration on the municipal census) or cohabitation, and proof of income such as personal income tax returns, working life reports, and certificates of not receiving other benefits.

Managora checks that cohabitation and dependence are well proven, which is where the INSS usually raises objections, and submits the complete file.

The death grant is a single payment financial aid to compensate for funeral expenses such as the coffin, cremation, funeral parlour, and transfer of the body. It is received by whoever has borne these costs.

The law presumes, unless proven otherwise, that the expenses were paid in this order by the surviving spouse or civil partner, the children, and the relatives who habitually lived with the deceased. These people are not required to justify the invoice. Any other person who can prove they paid for the funeral can also apply for it when these preferential beneficiaries do not exist.

For the right to exist, the deceased must have been registered or in a situation assimilated to registration, or receiving a subsidy for temporary incapacity or birth and care of a minor, or a retirement or permanent incapacity pensioner. No prior contribution period is required.

The death grant is compatible with the widowhood, orphanhood, and family member pensions: receiving one does not prevent you from receiving the grant.

The pension in favour of family members is generally 20% of the deceased's regulatory base, which is the same base used for widowhood. When upon the death of the deceased there is no spouse or children entitled to a widowhood or orphanhood pension, that percentage can be increased by the 52% corresponding to widowhood, which is distributed among the beneficiaries who meet the requirements.

The death grant is a fixed single payment amount, the same throughout the national territory. You can check the exact current amount on the Managora procedure page, as it is updated every year.

The INSS has a maximum period of 90 days to resolve both applications. In practice, the death grant is usually resolved in a few weeks. The pension in favour of family members, once recognised, is paid in 14 annual payments.

You can see the updated amounts and the cost of the management on the pension_favor_familiares_inss and auxilio_defuncion_inss pages of Managora.

The underlying regulations have not changed: the Texto Refundido de la Ley General de la Seguridad Social (Consolidated Text of the General Social Security Act), Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2015, de 30 de octubre, remains in force, regulating the death grant in its article 218 and the benefit in favour of family members in its article 226.

The annual update of the death grant does not come from a recent reform, but from the tenth additional provision of Ley 40/2007, de 4 de diciembre. That provision first set a progressive increase of the grant, 10% annually in the years 2008 to 2012, and from then on, its update every year according to the evolution of the CPI. After that increase, the grant left behind the historical €30.05 and went to around €46 towards 2012-2013, an amount at which it stagnated for several years. Generally, contributory pensions, including the one in favour of family members, are revalued every 1 January with the average CPI, in accordance with article 58 of the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (General Social Security Act).

Therefore, in 2026 both the grant and the pension in favour of family members are paid with the revalued amount for the year. Managora always applies the amounts in force at the time of submitting the application.