Q. I just married someone who will receive a USPS pension in three months. What should we do now so that I will receive something after he dies?
Browsing: SURVIVOR BENEFITS
Q. Both my wife and I will be retiring the last work day in January 2016. If the spouse for whom a survivor’s annuity benefit is chosen predeceases the other spouse, does the other spouse then get their annuity restored to the full amount? Also, I understand that a survivor’s annuity must be elected in order for the survivor to maintain FEHB coverage from its spouse. Is it correct that the election can be for less than a 55 percent annuity (e.g., CSRS)?
Q. I have been retired for 16 years and want to change my beneficiary from my wife to my son. Is that something I can do?
Q. I receive an annuity and collect Social Security. My husband passed away in July 2015 and I applied for spousal benefits from Social Security. I was denied because of my annuity. Is there a limit on the amount of annuity you receive? I am going to lose everything because I am not entitled to even part of his Social Security, which in the beginning was supposed to be $500. I was told I could have collected when he was alive. Now I will get nothing because I have an annuity. What I can do? I have a mortgage, house bills and credit cards. I feel…
Q. I am retired from the civil service and my wife is retired FERS. Our son was disabled prior to the age of 18. The OPM office in Boyers, Pennsylvania, has confirmed that our son is qualified to receive the survivor benefit from my service. It is not clear if our son would also be eligible from my wife’s service. Is there an impact if he receives the benefit from both parents?
When you began working for the government, you filled out a designation of beneficiary form. If you die, that form will settle the question about who is entitled to receive any benefits based on your employment. If you don’t remember who you designated, you need to go to your personnel office, dig the form out of your official personnel file and make sure that whoever you designated back then is still who you want to receive those benefits in the event of your death. While you can designate anyone to receive the proceeds of your Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance…
It’s time for a little history lesson. Not just because it’s fun to run a rake through the past, but because it can put things in perspective and clear up misunderstandings. When I began working for the federal government, the U.S. tax code held that the retirement contributions deducted from your pay would be tax-free when you retired and began receiving an annuity. That’s because those dollars had already been taxed when they were earned. Only after those previously taxed dollars ran out did you begin receiving the government’s money. And that money was 100-percent taxable. The payout of the…
In my last column I wrote about the calendar year 2015 changes in the dollar amounts or percentages affecting your pay (1 percent), cost-of-living adjustments for eligible retirees, survivors and Social Security beneficiaries (1.7 percent), and the Social Security earnings limit ($15,720). In this one, I’ll describe the calendar year 2015 changes affecting Medicare, death benefits and children’s benefits. Medicare At age 65, you’ll be eligible for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) at no cost to you. If you are no longer working, it’s free. That’s because you already paid for that benefit through payroll deductions. You’ll still be entitled…
Q. I’m a CSRS retiree. Can my wife keep the survivor benefit, plus her own social benefit when I die? A. Yes.
Q. I was granted a Federal survivor’s annuity in 1993 because my husband passed away and had 20 years of service with the federal government. I am 52 and plan to remarry. I know that my survivor annuity will be terminated because I am under 55, but I am unsure as to whether it can be reinstated if my new husband passes away. I have seen this question answered two ways – that it can be reinstated if there is a death or divorce and also that the annuity can only be reinstated if the marriage is terminated by divorce.…