15.07.2026 15:20
In Bartın, the Court of Cassation has made a final decision in the case of a woman who was found to be receiving a widow's pension from her second deceased husband while she was legally divorced from her first husband but continued to live under the same roof with him in practice. The Social Security Institution's (SGK) decision to cut the pension and demand a retroactive debt of 206,764 TL due to irregular salary payments was unanimously upheld by the 10th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, setting a precedent.
In Bartın, the Court of Cassation has made the final decision in the case of a woman who was receiving a "widow's pension" from her deceased second husband while continuing to live de facto in the same house with her first husband, from whom she was divorced on paper. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Social Security Institution's (SGK) decision to cut the irregular pension and enforce a debt of 206,000 liras.
FIELD INSPECTIONS EXPOSED THE TRICK
Strict inspections carried out to prevent exploitation of the social security system and illegal gains have now led to a legal case in Bartın. The process began in 2005 when the plaintiff woman divorced her first husband and soon married another person. After her second husband died in 2007, the SGK granted her a survivor's pension (widow's pension). However, meticulous field investigations by SGK social security inspectors, along with neighborhood registry records and neighbor statements, revealed a very different reality: the woman was actually continuing to live with her first husband, from whom she was divorced on paper, as husband and wife under the same roof.
PENSION CUT, 206 THOUSAND TL DEBT IMPOSED
Following this discovery, the SGK immediately cut the irregularly received widow's pension. The institution retroactively calculated a total debt of 206,764.79 TL corresponding to the payments made to date.
PRECEDENT DECISION FROM THE 10TH CIVIL CHAMBER OF THE COURT OF CASSATION
This case, featured by SGK Expert İsa Karakaş in his column and of great importance for social security law, went through local court and appeal stages before reaching the Court of Cassation. The 10th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, upon reviewing the file, found the SGK's determinations correct and unanimously upheld the penalty and the pension cut decision. This decision serves as a precedent for thousands of individuals who illegally receive pensions through fraudulent divorces or de facto cohabitation. Authorities remind that if unjustly paid benefits are identified, they will continue to be collected with retroactive interest.