This book explores survivors’ benefits, a long-standing pillar of social security systems worldwide. Rooted in the outdated male breadwinner model, these benefits were crafted to shield dependents from financial ruin after losing a primary earner. Yet, as societal currents shift—marked by rising female employment, widespread divorce, and the prevalence of informal partnerships—, social security systems increasingly grapple with their relevance. Are survivors’ benefits a vestige of the past, poised for overhaul, substitution, or even elimination?

Focusing on recent shifts in selected countries, this collected volume dissects the legal, social, and policy dimensions of these benefits. It examines how international and European legal instruments address survivors’ benefits and analyzes 21st-century reforms, revealing a system in quiet upheaval. Compact and incisive, this work lays bare the evolution of a once-steady institution now facing an uncertain future.

Stamatia Devetzi (Edited by)
Editor Stamatia Devetzi is Professor of Social Security Law at the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany. She studied law in Athens, Rome and Osnabrück, holds a diploma in law from the Law Faculty of University of Athens (1994) and a PhD from Osnabrück University (1998). She is member of the advisory board of FNA (Research Institute of the German Pensions Insurance) and of FIS (Network for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Policy, funded by the German Ministry of Labour. Her previous books include Die Kollisionsnormen des Europäischen Sozialrechts (Duncker & Humblot, 2000), Die offene Methode der Koordinierung und das Europäische Sozialmodell (ibidem, 2009, co-editor with Hans Platzer), Too Sick to Work? (Kluwer, 2011, co-editor with Sara Stendahl) and Social Security in Times of Corona (Sakkoulas, 2021, with Angelos Stergiou). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, the European Journal of Social Security, the European Journal of Migration and Law, and ZESAR - Zeitschrift für europäisches Sozial- und Arbeitsrecht.

Hans-Joachim Reinhard (Edited by)
Hans-Joachim Reinhard was Professor for Social Law and Private Law at the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany, from 2003 to 2023. In 2016–2023, he was elected as Dean of the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences. He has participated in various international projects in and outside Europe and gave lectures in Spain, France, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Japan, China, and Latin America. His scientific work comprises plenty of publications on social law, European law, and family law with focus on the situation of women in case of divorce and bereavement.