Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Mexico’s Supreme Court Strikes Down ISSSTE’s Five-Year Rule for Concubinage Pensions

The 6–2 decision instructs ISSSTE to reassess claims case by case based on evidence of affective cohabitation ties.

Overview

  • The Plenary voted 6–2 to declare unconstitutional articles 41.I and 131.II of the ISSSTE Law that imposed a five-year cohabitation or child-in-common condition.
  • Authored by Minister Irving Espinosa Betanzo, the ruling holds the temporal and procreation tests violate equality, family protection and social security rights.
  • ISSSTE must re-evaluate claims without the fixed-time rule, with applicants proving concubinage through evidence of affective, solidarity and cohabitation ties.
  • The case arose from an amparo by a partner recognized after roughly three years of cohabitation whose pension had been denied by ISSSTE.
  • The Court abandoned longstanding precedent from the 2007 regime, leaving Congress and ISSSTE to refine standards as dissenting ministers warned of potential fiscal strain.