It is good to know that when a spouse dies, the widow or widower can receive a pension not only from the Social Security Administration (SSA) but also from ZUS (Poland’s Social Insurance Institution), if the spouse once also worked in Poland. Support from Poland is due to the closest family, which includes the widow or widower of the deceased, children, siblings, grandchildren and also parents. For the pension to be paid, both the deceased and his or her family must meet a number of requirements, which I explain below.
What conditions the deceased must meet
A family pension (renta rodzinna) may be due to the relatives of the deceased if he or she was receiving a retirement or disability pension or met the conditions required to receive one of these benefits. When assessing the right to a family pension, ZUS assumes that the deceased was totally unable to work. These are the conditions that must be met.
- The deceased worked for at least five years (or less in the case of people under 30).
- The five-year contributory and non-contributory period should fall within the last ten years before the date of death.
- Death occurred no later than 18 months after these periods of work ended.
For Poles abroad, the hardest condition to meet was having five years of work in Poland within the last ten years. Help came from the Social Security agreement between Poland and the United States (the totalization agreement), because since March 1, 2009, ZUS also counts years of work in the U.S. The amount of the family pension is based on the benefit the deceased was receiving during his or her lifetime or could have received.
ZUS survivor’s pension for a spouse in the U.S.
A widow (or widower) is entitled to a family pension if, at the time of the husband’s (wife’s) death, she was at least 50 years old or was unable to work.
A widow (widower) will also receive it if she is raising at least one of the deceased’s children, grandchildren or siblings entitled to a family pension, if the child is under 16 (or 18 if in school), or if she is caring for a child entitled to the pension who is totally unable to work. A widow who does not meet these conditions will receive the pension if she turns 50 or becomes unable to work within five years of her husband’s death or of the end of raising the children. After that time, the widow will no longer receive the pension.
Remarrying does not take away a widow’s right to a family pension.
It is also worth knowing about the so-called renta wdowia (widow’s pension). Since July 1, 2025, a widow or widower who is entitled both to his or her own retirement or disability pension and to a family pension after the spouse can collect one of these benefits in full and the other at 15% (from January 1, 2027 – 25%), up to a total of three times the minimum pension. There are additional conditions: you must reach retirement age, acquire the right to the family pension no earlier than 5 years before reaching retirement age, and have lived in a marital union with the spouse until the day of his or her death. Payment of the widow’s pension stops on the day before a new marriage.
ZUS child’s pension for children in the U.S.
A family pension may be received by the deceased’s own children, the spouse’s children and adopted children:
- until age 16;
- until age 25 if they are in school (if the child turns 25 in the final year of college – until the end of that school year);
- regardless of age, if they became totally unable to work before turning 16 or while in school, before turning 25.
Child’s pension for grandchildren and siblings
Grandchildren, siblings and other children taken in to be raised and supported (before they reached adulthood) at least one year before the insured person’s death are also entitled to a family pension, unless the death was the result of an accident. They will receive the pension, however, only if they are not entitled to a pension after their own parents and, if the parents are living, only if the parents are unable to support them. They will also have this right if the deceased or his or her spouse was appointed their legal guardian by a court.
ZUS pays the pension to grandchildren, siblings and other children taken in to be raised for as long as it does to the children described above. They receive a combined family pension, which is divided into equal shares among those entitled.
A pension for a divorced spouse
A divorced wife who was not living in a marital union with her former husband on the day of his death is entitled to a ZUS family pension if, on the day of her husband’s death, she had a right to alimony from him established by a court judgment or court settlement. In addition, she must meet the requirements the law imposes on a widow who wants to receive a family pension after her deceased husband.
A pension for parents
Parents are entitled to a family pension if the insured person contributed to their support immediately before death and, in addition, they meet the same conditions as a widow or widower regarding age, inability to work or raising children.
When the deceased lacks work periods
When the insured person (the deceased) lacks periods of insurance in Poland, the Social Security agreement between Poland and the United States allows periods in Poland and in the U.S. to be combined and a proportional pension to be calculated. In this way, family members applying for a family pension after a person who worked and was covered by social insurance in Poland and in the U.S. can qualify for a ZUS pension, assuming they meet the other conditions.
The agreement applies to family members regardless of their citizenship. It therefore applies to Polish citizens, U.S. citizens and people who are citizens of neither country. The agreement covers both people who were insured in Poland or the U.S. as employees and those who were self-employed. More on this in the book “Emerytura polska i amerykańska” (“Polish and American Pensions”).
How much is the ZUS family pension
The amount of the family pension depends on the amount of the benefit the deceased would have been entitled to. The pension is 85, 90 and 95 percent for one, two, and three or more eligible persons, respectively.
To calculate the pension, ZUS will determine the ratio of Polish insurance periods to the total of Polish and U.S. insurance periods and will pay the pension only for the Polish insurance periods.
A ZUS family pension does not affect the award of a benefit from the U.S. You can therefore collect two benefits – from ZUS and from Social Security. Polish benefits also no longer reduce American ones: the Windfall Elimination Provision (which in any case did not apply to survivors benefits) was repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025.
Where to apply
You can apply for a family pension directly with ZUS in person, by mail or through a representative. If the deceased worked in Poland and in the U.S., you can also apply for the ZUS pension through the Social Security Administration.
You can get more information on the ZUS website www.zus.pl or from the ZUS Customer Contact Center, tel. +48 22 560 16 00.
Updated October 2026.
