A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.
Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has fulfilled the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and length of marriage.
[3] It was not especially uncommon for young women in Arkansas to marry Confederate pensioners; in 1937 the state passed a law stating that women who married Civil War veterans would not be eligible for a widow's pension.
[6] When it was offered, for a woman to qualify, her husband had to have paid 25 flat-rate contributions before April 6, 1975.
[1] In Israel in 2007, a court ruled that the female partner of a deceased lesbian was entitled to a widow's pension.