Q. I’m CSRS and will retire with 35 years of service. My spouse is CSRS Offset and will retire with 33 years of service. I have been told I would receive a full survivor annuity. Will it come from the Office of Personnel Management because I thought I would fall under the government pension offset with the Social Security part. My spouse should have no problem with receiving a survivor annuity from me, right?
A. If your wife were to die, you’d be entitled to the CSRS portion of her annuity. However, any Social Security benefit you’d be entitled to based on her employment history would be subject to the government pension offset. On the other hand, if you were to die, she would be entitled to an unreduced survivor annuity based on your employment history.
