Q: I’m a CSRS retiree. My spouse is designated to receive survivor benefits. If she dies first, will I be able to continue to pay the premiums and designate someone else to receive the benefit, for example my adult son? Or will the survivor benefit option end and I will stop paying the premiums?
A: If you wife were to die before you, your annuity would be restored to what it would have been had you not elected a survivor annuity. For that to happen, you’d need to let OPM know and provide them with a copy of her death certificate. No one else would be entitled to a survivor annuity unless you remarried and elected to provide one.
