Repayment Cover (Survivor Protection) – What Happens to Your Pension If You Die?
Repayment cover is a type of survivor protection that you can choose if you want your beneficiaries to receive the money in your occupational pension when you die. Without repayment cover, you receive a slightly higher pension while you are alive, but when you die, the remaining funds are distributed to other AMF policyholders.
If you want to apply for repayment cover, you must do so before your occupational pension starts being paid out. However, if you want to remove it, you can do so at any time. When applying for repayment cover, you will usually also need to answer questions about your health.
It may be a good idea to review your choice of repayment cover at different stages of life, for example:
- When you have children
- When you get married or move in with a partner
- When your children leave home
Does Repayment Cover Cost Anything?
Repayment cover itself does not cost anything. However, your pension may be somewhat higher if you do not have repayment cover, because you then receive inheritance gains from other savers. The older you become, the larger these inheritance gains will be, and the higher your pension may be.
Guide: Do You Need Repayment Cover?
With Repayment Cover
With repayment cover, your beneficiaries will receive a survivor’s pension.
- If you die before your occupational pension has started to be paid out, your beneficiaries will normally receive monthly payments for 5 years.
- If you die after your occupational pension has started to be paid out, your beneficiaries will receive the remaining payments. If your pension is paid out for life, payments to your beneficiaries can continue for a maximum of 20 years from the date you received your first pension payment.
- Your pension will be somewhat lower because you will not receive any inheritance gains (surplus funds from deceased policyholders).
Without Repayment Cover
-
Your pension will be somewhat higher because you will receive inheritance gains (surplus funds from deceased policyholders).
-
When you die, the insurance policy ends and your family will not receive any remaining pension capital.
-
Your remaining pension capital is converted into inheritance gains and distributed among other pension savers with AMF.
Keep in Mind...
-
If you do not have a partner or children, you should generally not have repayment cover since, for example, a non-cohabiting partner, parents, siblings, and friends cannot receive money from your pension insurance if you die.
-
If you want to add repayment cover, an approved health assessment is usually required. However, if you apply within 12 months of getting married, becoming a cohabiting partner, or having a child, no such requirement applies.
-
If you want to apply for repayment cover, you must do so well before your occupational pension starts being paid out.
Add or Remove Repayment Cover
When you log in, you can see whether you have repayment cover under Mitt sparande (My Savings). There you will also find information on how to apply for or remove the cover, as well as view your designated beneficiaries.
You can also see a forecast showing how your pension is affected with or without repayment cover, and how much your beneficiaries would receive if you were to pass away.
Frequently Asked Questions About Repayment Cover (Survivor Protection)
Repayment cover is a form of survivor protection that ensures the money in your occupational pension insurance is paid to your beneficiaries if you die. The beneficiaries are primarily your spouse, cohabiting partner, or registered partner, and secondarily your children.
You can also designate certain other individuals as beneficiaries, such as a former partner or the children of your current partner.
Survivor protection is a collective term for different types of protection that can provide financial compensation to your survivors when you die. The details vary depending on factors such as the applicable collective agreement.
Repayment cover is a specific type of survivor cover that allows your beneficiaries to receive the pension capital accumulated in a pension insurance policy.
The people who can receive survivor pension payments are called beneficiaries.
If you have not specified otherwise, a standard beneficiary designation applies. Under this designation, the beneficiaries are:
- First priority: spouse, cohabiting partner, or registered partner.
- Second priority: children.
If you wish to change the standard beneficiary designation, for example by making your child or children the primary beneficiaries, or if you want someone else to be a beneficiary, you must submit a special beneficiary designation.
In addition to the persons listed above, you may choose the following as beneficiaries:
-
A former spouse, cohabiting partner, or registered partner.
-
Your stepchildren or foster children.
-
The children, stepchildren, or foster children of your spouse, cohabiting partner, or registered partner.
-
The children, stepchildren, or foster children of a former spouse, cohabiting partner, or registered partner.
If you have chosen repayment cover, your beneficiaries may receive a survivor's pension from AMF.
The amount paid depends on factors such as:
-
The size of your pension capital.
-
The number of beneficiaries.
If you want your beneficiaries to receive your pension savings if you die, you should have repayment cover.
It is a good idea to review your choice periodically to ensure it reflects your current situation. For example, if your children have grown up and become financially independent, there may no longer be a need for repayment cover.
If you want to apply for survivor benefit protection, you must do so before pension payments begin.
However, you can remove repayment cover at any time, even after pension payments have started.
When applying, you may need to complete a health declaration, which involves answering questions about your health.
If you have:
- Married,
- Started cohabiting with a partner, or
- Had a child
- If the assessment is approved, repayment cover can apply to both previously paid and future pension contributions.
-
If the assessment is not approved, repayment cover can only apply to future contributions.
There is no fee for having repayment cover.
However, you forgo inheritance gains, which are additional amounts distributed from pension savings left behind by deceased policyholders who did not have repayment cover.
Without these inheritance gains, your pension will be somewhat lower.
Approximate inheritance gain per SEK 1,000 of pension capital per year
| Age |
Approximate inheritance gain
|
| 30 | 0.68 kr |
| 50 | 1.28 kr |
| 65 | 8.10 kr |
| 75 | 26.57 kr |
| 85 | 89.00 kr |
| 95 | 334.2 kr |
If your insurance includes repayment cover, it applies both before and after you begin drawing your occupational pension.
With repayment cover, your beneficiaries receive a survivor's pension:
-
If you die before pension payments begin, survivor's pension is normally paid monthly for five years.
-
If you die after pension payments have begun, survivor's pension is paid for the remaining payment period. If your pension is payable for life, survivor's pension is paid for a maximum of 20 years from the date you received your first pension payment.
An inheritance gain is available to pension savers who do not have survivor benefit protection.
This increases your pension because you receive a share of the pension funds left by deceased insured persons in the same age group. Similarly, when you die, the remaining funds in your pension are distributed to other pension savers who do not have survivor benefit protection.
Inheritance gains increase with age because:
- More people in the age group pass away.
- Pension capital is generally larger.
On AMF's My pages (Mina sidor), you can see whether you have survivor benefit protection and how much inheritance gain you have received.
Approximate inheritance gain per SEK 1,000 of pension capital per year
| Age |
Approximate inheritance gain
|
| 30 år | 0.68 kr |
| 50 år | 1.28 kr |
| 65 år | 8.10 kr |
| 75 år | 26.57 kr |
| 85 år | 89.00 kr |
| 95 år | 334.42 kr |
If you save for retirement without repayment cover, you continuously receive inheritance gains from pension savers who die. In return, other pension savers receive inheritance gains from your pension savings when you die.
If you add repayment cover, this arrangement ends, meaning other pension savers will no longer receive inheritance gains from you.
For example, if someone could add repayment coverafter learning they have a serious illness and redirect their pension savings to their family instead of other pension savers, this would be unfair to the other participants in the pension system.
For this reason, you must answer questions about your health when applying for repayment cover
You submit a health declaration, which is then assessed. To obtain repayment cover for pension capital that has already been accrued, the medical assessment must be approved.
If the assessment is not approved, you may still obtain repayment cover for future contributions to your occupational pension.