The entitlement to national public pension is determined by the Swedish Pensions Agency. In the event of death, the entitlement to national public pension ceases.
The Swedish Pensions Agency decided that an individual would no longer receive any national public pension. The reason was that the agency had received notice that the individual had been missing since 2016, which was also confirmed by his wife. As the individual was missing and did not claim his pension and since there were no signs of life, the agency determined that the right to national public pension no longer existed.
The individual's wife requested reconsideration of the decision, but the Swedish Pensions Agency did not change it.
After the individual's wife appealed to the administrative court, the appeal was rejected.
The individual's wife appealed to the administrative court of appeal, which overturned the Swedish Pensions Agency’s reconsideration decision. The court drew parallels with the Declaration of Death Act (2005:130) and was of the opinion that the circumstances indeed suggested that the individual is dead but, since there is no clear information regarding the disappearance, there is no such high degree of probability that the individual is dead as required for the right to national public pension to have ceased.
The Swedish Pensions Agency appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. The Supreme Administrative Court found that the question whether the wife had a right to reconsideration of the Swedish Pension Agency’s underlying decision regarding her husband’s right to pension, should be tried against Chapter 113, section 24 of the Social Insurance Code. Section 24 regulates the right to reconsideration if the person to whom the decision pertains has died. In such a situation, another person who is affected by the decision may request reconsideration. The Supreme Administrative Court found that irrespective of whether the wife in this situation was affected in the sense referred to in the provision, it must first be established that the person to whom the decision pertains has died or has been declared dead in accordance with the Declaration of Death Act. At the time of the wife's request for reconsideration, it had not been established that the individual was dead or had been declared dead. Thus, the wife did not have the right to have the underlying decision reconsidered by virtue of Chapter 113, section 24. The Swedish Pensions Agency should therefore have disallowed her request regarding reconsideration. The rulings of the administrative court of appeal and administrative court, as well as the reconsideration decision by the Swedish Pensions Agency, was therefore overturned and the underlying decision by the Swedish Pensions Agency was affirmed.