Consideration of Children's Income and Expenses in the Calculation of Supplementary Benefits

Facts

The applicant, B., filed a claim for supplementary benefits with the Lucerne Compensation Fund. The Fund conducted a comparative calculation to determine whether the applicant's minor daughter, who receives a child's disability pension, should be included in the calculation of the annual supplementary benefits. The Administrative Court of the Canton of Lucerne upheld the Compensation Fund's decision.

Considerations

The Federal Insurance Court ruled that the Compensation Fund and the Administrative Court correctly applied Art. 16c of the Ordinance on Supplementary Benefits (OPC-AVS/AI) by allocating the rent when calculating the supplementary benefits without considering the child. This rent allocation is necessary to determine whether the child should be excluded from the calculation under Art. 3a(6) of the Supplementary Benefits Act (SBA).

However, the Cantonal Court was wrong to have taken into account a hypothetical income of the child. According to case law, only actually received income and existing assets…