Refusal of Widow's Pension

Facts

C., who remarried J., a federal civil servant who passed away on 17 October 1990, received a widow's pension and an orphan's pension from the Federal Insurance Fund (CFA) starting 18 October 1990. In 1997, the Federal Pension Fund (CPC) determined that the statutory conditions for granting the widow's pension were not met and ceased payment of the pension as of 31 July 1997, requesting reimbursement of the amounts received.

Considerations

According to Art. 19(1)(a) OPA and Art. 23(1)(a) of the CFA statutes, the right to a widow's pension requires that the widow must provide for the maintenance of one or more children at the time of the insured's death. The interpretation of these provisions shows that this maintenance obligation must exist legally or contractually at the time of the insured's death and not expire with it.

Although the deceased's children who are not the widow's children may be considered "children" within…