Q: I am a recent widow of a CSRS Offset employee. I, too, was a CSRS employee (not offset). The survivor benefit that has been calculated for me is equivalent to 28 percent of my husband’s retirement benefit when he died. This doesn’t seem accurate, although it may be. I’ve spent nearly a year with OPM and Social Security trying to identify where their numbers are coming from, with no success. Can you recommend an expert that I can contact to assist me? Nobody, not even Social Security, seems to know how the rules were applied and I am going around in circles.
A: While I can’t recommend an expert, I can tell you where you can get an explanation of how the survivor annuity of a deceased CSRS Offset retiree is calculated. Go to http://opm.gov/retire/pubs/handbook/C071.pdf and scroll down to Section 71A2.1-3.
