The social welfare code recognises three types of relationship between couples which includes those who are married, civil partners and cohabitants. The term civil partner only applies to a person who has registered their civil partnership. Cohabitants are same sex or opposite sex couples who are living together.
Widowed or surviving civil partner grant is a once-off payment of €6,000 to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners with dependent children. It is not payable to someone who was not married to, or in a registered civil partnership with another person.
The following table shows the number of applications for widowed or surviving civil partner grant received since 2010. A total of 183 claims have been disallowed during that period. Of this cohort, four were disallowed because the application was received from a person who was not the spouse or civil partner of the deceased.
Year
|
Received
|
Disallowed
|
2010
|
1,224
|
48
|
2011
|
1,178
|
44
|
2012
|
1,130
|
53
|
2013 (to end-August)
|
800
|
38
|