Employees' Pension Insurance Act

If an insured who has died (including a former insured; hereinafter referred to as the "deceased insured") had a spouse during the time that the person was an insured, and the spouse of the deceased insured (hereinafter referred to as the "bereaved spouse") is a specified beneficiary or was a specified beneficiary, the bereaved spouse may, from the day specified in each of the following items for the case classified as set forth in that item (or the earliest of those days if the case falls under two or more of the items), file a request with the implementing organization for the standard monthly remuneration (for a month in which the previous standardized monthly amount of remuneration provided for in Article 26, paragraph (1) is deemed to be the standard monthly remuneration for that month pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph, that previous standardized monthly amount of remuneration, and for a month without a standard monthly remuneration, 0; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) and the standard bonus amount (for a month without a standard bonus amount, 0; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) for the marriage-related subject period (meaning a period that was the period of marriage between the deceased insured and the bereaved spouse or any other period specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; the same applies hereinafter) to be revised or decided; provided, however, that this does not apply if five years have elapsed from the day specified in the relevant item or in any other case specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

if there is no period during which the bereaved spouse holds the right to receive benefits from a basic pension for surviving family (excluding a case where the bereaved spouse is living off the same financial resources as a child who holds the right to receive benefits from a basic pension for surviving family and a case set forth in the following item): the day on which five years have elapsed counting from the day on which the bereaved spouse acquired the right to receive benefits from the employees' pension for surviving family for which the grounds for payment arose before reaching 60 years of age;

if there is no period during which the bereaved spouse holds the right to receive benefits from a basic pension for surviving family, and the bereaved spouse was living off the same financial resources as a child who holds the right to receive benefits from a basic pension for surviving family: the day on which five years have elapsed counting from the day on which that child (or, if there are two or more of those children, all of them; the same applies hereinafter in this item) was adopted by a lineal relative by blood or a lineal relative by affinity (excluding a lineal relative by affinity who is a specified beneficiary), the day on which that child ceased to be living off the same financial resources as the specified beneficiary, or the day on which the right to receive benefits from the basic pension for surviving family held by that child ceased to exist;

if there is a period during which the bereaved spouse holds the right to receive benefits from a basic pension for surviving family, and that right to receive benefits from the basic pension for surviving family ceased to exist before the day on which the bereaved spouse reaches 60 years of age: the day on which five years have elapsed counting from the day on which that right to receive benefits from the basic pension for surviving family ceased to exist;

if the right to receive benefits from the employees' pension for surviving family for which the grounds for payment arose before reaching 60 years of age ceases to exist pursuant to the provisions of Article 63, paragraph (1), item (ii) or (iii), or paragraph (2), item (ii) or (iii): the day on which the right to receive benefits from that employees' pension for surviving family ceased to exist.

If the rights to receive benefits from an employees' pension for surviving family and a basic pension for surviving family cease to exist simultaneously before the day on which the bereaved spouse reaches 60 years of age, the bereaved spouse who held those rights may, from the day on which those rights ceased to exist, file a request with the implementing organization for the standard monthly remuneration and the standard bonus amount for the marriage-related subject period to be revised or decided; provided, however, that this does not apply if five years have elapsed from the day on which those rights ceased to exist or in any other case specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

If a request under paragraph (1) or the preceding paragraph has been filed, the implementing organization may, for each month of the marriage-related subject period other than the period during which the bereaved spouse was a class III insured provided for in Article 7, paragraph (1), item (iii) of the National Pension Act (referred to in paragraph (5) as the "specified class III insured period"), revise or decide the standard monthly remuneration and the standard bonus amount of the bereaved spouse to be the amounts specified in the following items respectively.

standard monthly remuneration: the amount arrived at when the amount obtained by multiplying the deceased insured's standard monthly remuneration by the calculation percentage (meaning the percentage calculated as specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare so that the bereaved spouse's aggregate amount of standardized remuneration for the marriage-related subject period after the revision or decision becomes one-half of the total of the aggregate amounts of standardized remuneration for the marriage-related subject period of the deceased insured and of the bereaved spouse; the same applies in the following item) is added to the bereaved spouse's standard monthly remuneration;

standard bonus amount: the amount arrived at when the amount obtained by multiplying the deceased insured's standard bonus amount by the calculation percentage is added to the bereaved spouse's standard bonus amount.

In a case where the bereaved spouse's aggregate amount of standardized remuneration for the marriage-related subject period is the deceased insured's aggregate amount of standardized remuneration for the marriage-related subject period or more, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the standard monthly remuneration and the standard bonus amount prior to the revision or decision are the standard monthly remuneration and the standard bonus amount revised or decided pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph.

If a request under paragraph (1) or (2) has been filed, the implementing organization may, for each month of the bereaved spouse's specified class III insured period, decide the bereaved spouse's standard monthly remuneration and standard bonus amount to be the amounts arrived at when the deceased insured's standard monthly remuneration and standard bonus amount are multiplied by one-half.

In a case as referred to in paragraph (3) and the preceding paragraph, a period within the marriage-related subject period that is an insured period of the deceased insured but not an insured period of the bereaved spouse is deemed to be an insured period of the bereaved spouse.

The standardized remuneration of the bereaved spouse as revised or decided pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) and paragraph (5) is effective only prospectively, starting from the day on which the request under paragraph (1) or (2) was filed.

In paragraph (3), item (i) and paragraph (4), the "aggregate amount of standardized remuneration for the marriage-related subject period" means, for each of the deceased insured and the bereaved spouse, the total of the amounts arrived at when each of the standard monthly remuneration and the standard bonus amounts for the months of the insured period pertaining to the marriage-related subject period is multiplied by the revaluation rate that is applicable on the last day of the marriage-related subject period, the deceased insured or the bereaved spouse being deemed to be the beneficiary.

The implementing organization must record, in the EPI register, the name of persons who have a period that is deemed to be an insured period pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (6) of the preceding Article (hereinafter referred to in this Article and the proviso to Article 78-21-6, paragraph (2) as the "deemed insured period of a bereaved spouse"), the deemed insured period of a bereaved spouse, the standardized remuneration connected with the deemed insured period of a bereaved spouse, and any other particulars specified by order of the competent ministry.

If the implementing organization has revised or decided the standardized remuneration pursuant to the provisions of Article 78-21-2, paragraph (3) and paragraph (5), the implementing organization must notify the bereaved spouse to that effect.

Beyond as provided in the preceding three Articles, order of the competent ministry provides for the necessary particulars in connection with the procedures for the request under Article 78-21-2, paragraph (1) or (2) and for the standardized remuneration to be revised or decided pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) and paragraph (5) of that Article.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 43, paragraph (1), if the standardized remuneration of the beneficiary of an employees' old-age pension has been revised or decided pursuant to the provisions of Article 78-21-2, paragraph (3) and paragraph (5), the insured period up to and including the last month of the insured period pertaining to the marriage-related subject period and the standardized remuneration after its revision or after it has been decided are the basis for calculating the employees' old-age pension, and the pension amount is revised from the month following the month that includes the day on which the request under Article 78-21-2, paragraph (1) or (2) was filed.

If the standardized remuneration of the beneficiary of an employees' disability pension has been revised or decided pursuant to the provisions of Article 78-21-2, paragraph (3) and paragraph (5) for an insured period that constitutes a basis for calculating the amount of the relevant employees' disability pension, the amount of the pension is revised from the month following the month that includes the day on which the request under paragraph (1) or (2) of that Article was filed, based on the standardized remuneration after its revision or after it has been decided; provided, however, that the deemed insured period of a bereaved spouse does not constitute a basis for calculating the employees' disability pension to which the provisions of the second sentence of Article 50, paragraph (1) apply.

Beyond as provided in this Chapter, Cabinet Order provides for the necessary particulars in connection with the special provisions on the period of being a spouse in a case of bereavement of an insured.