2023-10-31 18:44:00
Unlike married people, legal cohabitants are not entitled to any financial support when they lose their spouse. Suddenly, following a death, parents have to support their family with less income. The League of Families is today launching an appeal to the Government.
They had planned everything so that their children would lack nothing if one of them disappeared, but when Christine lost her husband, she understood that her status as a legal cohabitant did not entitle her to anything. “We have no aid, we have no pension, we have nothing at all. I was just entitled to increased allowances for my children“, she explains.
950 euros per month for her 2 children: that’s all she is entitled to and yet Christine thought she was protected. “I feel like I’ve been tricked. We had this cohabitation when we bought real estate, to protect ourselves. In fact, it’s a great scam: we have the right to nothing, apart from taking on the debts“.
In Belgium, it is estimated that while 60% of couples are married, 40% live in legal cohabitation. Today, the League of Families calls on the authorities to financially support all parents who lose their spouse. “In 2022, it was found that 208 people were affected by the status of legal cohabitant and had lost one of the spouses. We find that it is quite little, in the sense that social security will not be completely impacted financially, it is only a minimal effort for the government, but it is a big difference for bereaved families.“, proclaims Madeleine Guyot, general director of the League of Families.
The extension of this transition allowance has been under discussion for a year and a half in the government, but no decision has been taken until now.
marriage Legal cohabitation
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