Cohabitation does not mean living together

An SBB employee had been together with his partner for five years and married her two months before his death. The SBB pension fund refused to pay the widow a pension because the couple had not lived together for five years.

The Federal Supreme Court ruled in favour of the widow: the pension fund regulations do not require married couples to have lived together for at least five years. It was sufficient if they had lived together for five years. (Source: BGE 9C_655/2021 of 3 February 2023)