As per Ministry of Defence (MoD) letter of September 2015, presently only those children who are dependent and meet other conditions of eligibility for family pension at the time of death of the Government servant or his/her spouse, whichever is later, are eligible for family pension. Accordingly, divorced daughters who fulfil other conditions are eligible for family pension if a decree of divorce had been issued by the competent court during the life time of at least one of the parents.
The Government has been receiving grievances from various quarters that the divorce proceedings are a long drawn procedure which take many years before attaining finality. There are many cases in which the divorce proceedings of a daughter of a Government employee/pensioner had been instituted in the competent court during the life time of one or both but none was alive by the time the decree of divorce was granted by the competent authority.
The matter has been examined and it has been decided vide Ministry of Defence letter dated 17 November 2017 to grant family pension to a divorced daughter of Armed Forces personnel in such cases where the divorce proceedings has been filed in a competent court during the life time of the employee/pensioner or his/her spouse but divorce took place after their death – provided that the claimant fulfils all other conditions for grant of family pension. In such cases, the family pension will commence from the date of divorce.
