Pension rule changed for same-sex couples

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MADRID, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Same-sex couples in Spain are now eligible for widow's or widower's pensions, the country's Constitutional Court ruled.

Under the law, before the ruling, people in married or unmarried relationships needed to be able to prove they had lived together for five years, had some financial dependence upon their partner and had children "in common" to be eligible for widow's or widower's pension if a partner died, ThinkSpain reported Friday.

The court said the children-in-common requirement was unconstitutional because in the case of same-sex couples having children in common is biologically impossible and, up until recently, unmarried heterosexual couples and same-sex couples were not permitted to adopt children.