Q. When I married a federal retiree, she changed her health benefits and life insurance coverage to include me. While she planned to elect a survivor benefit for me, she didn’t. I only learned that when I reported her death and applied for a survivor annuity. Now OPM has told me that I’m not entitled to a survivor annuity and as a result am not entitled to coverage under the health benefit program. Is that right? A. Yes, it is. Because you didn’t marry her until after she had retired, she wasn’t required to provide you with a survivor annuity. Since she…
Browsing: Remarriage
Q. If I get married after I retire and elect a survivor annuity for my husband, I understand that I would need to pay the difference of what I would have paid had we been married at retirement plus 6 percent interest. For example, if I retired in January and married in June, if I understand this correctly, I need to wait 9 months for it to be effective so 9 plus 5 (months I would be married) would equal 14 months. If, for example, the difference in the annuity would be $50, I would owe $50×14 = $700 plus…
Q. I retired from the Civil Service Retirement System in 2012, and was divorced at the time. My ex-wife won’t receive a survivor annuity based on my divorce decree. I am going to get remarried this summer and will elect full survivor annuity for my new wife. I know my monthly annuity will be reduced, but I want to know if the reduction would be the same as if I had been married all these years, or will there be an additional amount deducted to make up for the years since I retired? A. If you marry and elect to…