Family Pension to Unmarried Daughter in India

Ancestral property used to be entitled exclusively for sons in the family. But we are going to complete two decades in a couple of years since Hindu daughters have been entitled to coparcenary rights. When it comes to a daughter’s rights in her parents’ or family property, she has to prove or fight for her rights. Family pension is just another battle for the ‘She’ here. People have a lot of confusion regarding family pension for unmarried daughters above 25 years, or even below who may or may not be earning, or those who is divorced or widowed. The blog below attempts to throw some light in this direction.

You are a girl, this is not your permanent home. You will be married off to another home which is going to be your rightful nest. This mentality often invites a plethora of doubts and queries when a girl’s entitlement to her parents’ or family property is being discussed. It is a traditional thought process that whatever belongs to the parents has to be passed over to their sons, while completely ignoring daughters. However, times are changing for good. With daughters being the rightful coparceners like sons, they have equal rights like sons for what is left behind by the parents after death. 

Similarly, unmarried, widowed, and divorced daughters also have rights in their parents’ pension after they die a pensioner or even being an employee of the central government or otherwise. Given below are some rules surrounding family pensions to unmarried daughters. 

Family Pension Rules After Death of Pensioner

When a person starts with a government job, there are numerous perks. One of them is a family pension after they depart from the physical world. 

As per authorities, the pension scheme under Rule 50 of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021 is like a social welfare scheme. The same is framed to postulate monetary relief to widowed spouses or children of the deceased employee or pensioner, as the case may be. They must be financially dependent and should not be earning more than a fixed amount on a monthly basis. The scheme does not require employees to contribute anything to the family pension, hence, lacks any control as well. 

It may be noted that no other person except the ones mentioned in the rules can be eligible for a family pension. As per rules, who is eligible or entitled to a family pension can not be decided through succession or legal heirship certificates as well. Thus, the central government employee or pensioner can not nominate anyone in this regard. 

Sub Rule 6 of Rule 50 provides the relations entitled to family pension

• Spouse
• Children
• Parents
• Disabled Siblings

Conditions for Unmarried Daughter’s Right in Family Pension

The eligibility for family pension to unmarried daughters in family pension has been pointed out below. It should be noted that the same applies to eligibility for children of employees in central civil services. In case of any confusion regarding who is not eligible for a family pension, the family lawyers may be approached. If a daughter fails to comply with any one of the following, she becomes ineligible to receive the family pension. 

• Eligibility for Unmarried Daughter (Sub-rule 9(a)(ii) of Rule 50)

  An unmarried daughter is entitled to a family pension until she gets married or starts earning for livelihood, whichever event comes first.
  
  

• Order of Birth (Sub rule 9(d) of Rule 50)

  Family pension is payable to children in the order of birth. Hence, if the unmarried daughter is the eldest among siblings, she is entitled to receive a family pension if her parents are not alive. However, if the unmarried daughter is younger among siblings but the elder ones are ineligible as per the rules, in that case, family pension to the unmarried daughter is lawful even after the age of 25 years.
  
  

•  Twins (Sub rule 9(g) of Rule 50)

  If an unmarried daughter has a twin sister or daughter, the amount is divided equally among the siblings.
  
  

• Two Pensions (Sub-rule 13 of Rule 50)

  If both the parents, i.e. mother and father of surviving child/children are/were governed under the Family Pension 1964 rules, if he/she is eligible for pension, he/she is entitled to two pensions under both their names, subject to a total  limit.
  
  

• Family Pension Not Income

  In case the unmarried daughter is the beneficiary of an existing family pension scheme, the amount is not counted under her income for eligibility for a second family pension. 
  
  

• Adopted Child of Spouse

  Family pension to an unmarried daughter can be denied if she is the adopted child of the spouse of the pensioner. Hence, if a man dies leaving behind his widow who adopted a baby girl, such a daughter is not entitled to the family pension of the man after his widow’s death.
  
  

• Disabled Daughter (Sub-rule 9(a)(iii) of Rule 50)

  In case of mental or physical disability of the daughter of a deceased government servant, the family pension is payable for a lifetime even if married or after attaining the age of 25 years.
  
  

• Pension for Minor Daughter

  If the unmarried daughter is a minor as well, payment of the family pension will be done through the guardian.

• Divorced Parent

  If the deceased parent of an unmarried daughter had filed for divorce from a spouse whose proceedings may have concluded after death, in such case she is entitled to a family pension. However, it will commence from the date of divorce granted.
  
  

Payment of Family Pension

The family pension rules after the death of pensioners need to be followed on when and how much pension is payable. The main factor governing the amount is the last drawn salary of the deceased person.

• The family pension is fixed and paid on a monthly basis in whole rupees. 
• If the government employee dies in service, i.e. before retirement, the amount payable under the family scheme is 50% of the last drawn pay. Such an amount will be payable for 10 years, after which, it will be reduced at a rate of 30% of the last drawn salary.
• If the government pensioner dies after retirement, 50% of the family pension shall be paid for 7 years or till the date the deceased government employee would have attained the age of 67 years, whichever is less. After that, the family pension is paid at the rate of 30% of the last pay.
  
  

Documents for Family Pension

An unmarried daughter, or for that matter, anyone in the family who survives the death of a government servant will have to undergo certain formalities for a grant of pension. Given below are the documents required for the grant of a family pension to the unmarried daughter:

• Duly filled appropriate form for the claim of family pension to the  unmarried daughter
• Recent photographs duly attested by a Gazetted Officer
• Copy of Death Certificate of Father / Mother (as applicable) 
• Copy of the Aadhaar Card & PAN Card of the applicant.
• Copy of Birth Certificate/ Matriculation Certificate of Applicant
• Photocopy of Bank Passbook/ Cancelled Cheque of applicant
• Permanent and present Correspondence address with Telephone No. and email ID
• Unemployment and unmarried certificate duly signed by Municipal/ Panchayat/ Revenue Authority and duly countersigned by a District Sainik Welfare Officer
• The income certificate of the applicant issued by the concerned district’s Revenue Officer
• An original affidavit sworn before First Class Magistrate from brother/ sister stating that he has no objection to the family pension being granted
• An affidavit sworn before the First Class Magistrate indicating the current marital and employment status of the applicant
• Copy of Pension Payment Order (PPO)

FAQs

1. Is an unmarried daughter eligible for a family pension in railway?
   Yes, an unmarried daughter is eligible for a family pension in Railway till she gets married.

2. What is the new family pension rule?
   According to regulation 50(8) of the Central Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 2021, if a government official or pensioner dies, a family pension will be provided to the widow or widower until he or she dies or remarries, whichever comes first, DoPPW (Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare) stated.