Q. What percentage of my husbands annuity do I get when he dies? He is retired from the US Army Corps of Engineers. From what I am reading we would need to be married at least nine months, but I am having a hard time finding out much more.
A. Assuming that (1) a former spouse isn’t already entitled to all or a portion of your husbands’s annuity; (2) you have been married to him for at least 9 months before he dies; (3) he applies for a survivor annuity within two years of your marriage; and (4) he pays to OPM a substantial deposit and accepts the reduction in his own annuity, if he is a CSRS retiree, you would be entitled to 55 percent of his annuity, 50 percent if FERS.
