How does marriage or cohabitation affect your Kela benefits?

If you get married or move in with your partner, your general housing allowance or housing allowance for pensioners must be reviewed.

Married spouses and unmarried couples who live together belong to the same household. Persons who belong the same household must apply for housing allowance together. Married spouses are considered to belong to different households only if they are living separately because the relationship has ended.

How can I apply for a review of my allowance?

OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish. If you cannot use OmaKela, apply for a review of your housing allowance on one of the following forms:

• the form Application - General housing allowance AT 1e (pdf)
• the form Application - Housing allowance for pensioners AE 1e (pdf)

Send the form and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

Use an online calculator to estimate the amount of housing allowance available to you

Use one of the following calculators to see how much housing allowance you can get after the change in your family circumstances:

• general housing allowance calculator
• calculator for housing allowance for pensioners (in Finnish).

If you get married or move in with your partner, you can no longer receive a single-parent supplement to the child benefit. This means that the amount of the child benefit must be reviewed, so be sure to inform Kela that you are moving in together.

How can I apply for a review of my child benefit?

OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish. If you cannot use OmaKela, apply for a review of the child benefit on the form Application - Child Benefit LL 1e (pdf). Send the form and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

When you receive child home care allowance or private day care allowance, the amount of the care supplement is affected by

• your family size
• the income of your spouse or partner.

Apply for a review of the allowance if you get married or move in with your partner.

How can I apply for a review of my allowance?

OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish. If you cannot use OmaKela, apply for a review of the care supplement on the form Claim - Child home care allowance - Private day care allowance WH 1e (pdf). Send the form and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

If you get married or move in with your partner, the amount of your social assistance must be reviewed.

How can I apply for a review of my social assistance?

OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish. If you cannot use OmaKela, apply for a review of your social assistance on the form Application - Social assistance TO 1e (pdf). Send the form and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

Use an online calculator to estimate the change in the amount of your social assistance. 

Conscript’s allowance can be paid to conscripts and

• a married spouse of a conscript
• a cohabiting partner with whom the conscript has a child.

The spouse’s income affects any conscript’s allowance to which the conscript may be entitled.

If you move in with your partner or get married, you need to apply for a review of the amount of housing assistance for conscripts.

Apply for housing assistance for conscripts or a review of your housing assistance for conscripts on the form Sotilasavustus SA 1 (pdf). This form is only available in Finnish and Swedish. Send the form in OmaKela or mail it along with the supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

When you get student housing supplement, let us know if you move in with your partner. Notify Kela of changes that affect the housing supplement with an application for housing supplement in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).

If you live in a rented home with your partner, your share is always half of the total housing costs. If you and your partner have signed separate rental agreements, your individual housing costs are added together and divided equally between you and your partner.

Your partner’s income does not affect the amount of student housing supplement you can get.

If you no longer live alone, you will get less national pension and surviving spouse’s pension. You lose your right to surviving spouse’s pension completely if you remarry while you are under 50 years of age.

This means that if you get married or move in with your partner, you need to apply for a review of your national pension and of the additional amount of your surviving spouse’s continuing pension.

How can I apply for a review of my pension?

OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish. If you cannot use OmaKela, apply for a review of your pension on the form Application for review - National pension / Guarantee pension E 285e (pdf).

It is not possible to apply for a review of the additional amount of the surviving spouse’s continuing pension in OmaKela. Apply for a review on the form Application - Additional amount of the surviving spouse's pension payable to surviving spouses under the age of 65 years EV 277e (pdf). Send the form and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

If a student under 18 years of age is in upper secondary education and lives with their parent and the parent’s new married spouse, the income of the spouse will affect the student financial aid available to the student.

However, if the student lives with their parent and the parent’s new unmarried partner, the partner’s income does not affect the student’s financial aid.

The student must inform Kela of their parent’s new marriage in OmaKela or on the form Notification of changes - Financial aid for students OT 15e (pdf). OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish.