Facts
On December 5, 1972, Jean Humbert, born in 1924, who had been childless married to Gertrud Suter since 1948, passed away. By decision of March 20, 1973, the Compensation Fund of the Watch Industry awarded the wife, born on November 10, 1928, a widow's lump-sum settlement.
Gertrud Humbert-Suter filed a complaint and demanded that the regular widow's pension be paid to her instead of the widow's lump-sum settlement. On July 4, 1973, the Insurance Court of the Canton of Bern dismissed the complaint, as the new law (8th AHV revision) applied and the complainant had not yet reached the age of 45 on January 1, 1973.
Gertrud Humbert filed an administrative court appeal against this decision and repeated her pension claim. She argued that the law refers to the time of widowhood and that the postponement of the start of the pension to the first of the following month is a purely technical measure that has no impact on the time and the concept of widowhood.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court states that the claim to a widow's pension - under both the old and the new law - arises on the 1st day of the month following the death of the husband. A distinction must be made between the time of fulfillment of the claim-establishing facts (death of the husband) and the time of the emergence of the legal relationship of the insurance case.
In the present case, the insurance case with regard to the pension claim would not have occurred already with the…