Q: I just submitted a request for a retirement estimate. I was confused about the reductions section in life insurance. The three selections were 75 percent, 50 percent or no reduction at all. What do the reductions mean? In my estimate request, I selected no reduction with Basic and Option B (times 1). What would be the difference, if I did select a 75 percent or 50 percent reduction? A: In simple terms, the smaller the reduction in the face value of the coverage you elect, the higher your premiums will be. For example, if you elect the 75 percent…
Browsing: Survivor benefits
Q: I am a CSRS retiree. My husband is a public school teacher retiree from Missouri. I know I cannot draw from his Social Security benefits under any circumstance or he from mine, but will I be able to draw from his school retirement if he should die before me? Or will he be able to draw from my civil service if I should die first? He is on my health benefit and would need that if I should die first. We have both made allotments to each other and no one mentioned this when we were preparing retirement papers.…
Q: I retired under FERS after changing from CSRS to FERS. I retired Feb. 29, 1988. Now I am being told by Social Security that I am not eligible to receive Social Security payments on my deceased former husband because I am receiving a retirement from the government. Please tell me how I can tell the Social Security Administration that I am entitled to benefits. They are requesting that I sign a form to return my request for the Social Security benefits. A: Because you have a CSRS component in your annuity, you are subject to the government pension offset…
Q: I am a FERS federal employee planning to retire in five years. I have carried FEHB self-only since I was hired in 1998. I am planning to retire in five years and wish to add my spouse (currently with a single , nonfederal health plan) to my health plan before my retirement. Am I required to carry my spouse on my plan for five years before my retirement as well as myself? A: No. You may switch to self and family coverage during any open season. Regardless of how long your spouse was covered, that person would be able…
Q: My father was a federal employee for 30 years. He died Nov. 11, 2010. My mother predeceased him by eight years. I received notice in the mail that I was the beneficiary of his death benefit. There is the option of taking the lump sum. But when he put me down as a beneficiary I was his dependent because of multiple mental disabilities. I would like to apply for the annuity for a disabled child. I can trace the start of one my disabilities to when I was between 11 and 13. However, I have no documentation of it.…
Q: I retired in 2008 under CSRS retirement. I elected spousal a dollar amount to be paid out at my death. I didn’t include health benefits as my wife is a federal employee with her own health insurance. My spouse would like to waive the spousal annuity to be paid out at my death. What is the process? A: While your wife is free to decline the receipt of a survivor annuity when she reports your death to OPM, it is too late for you to cancel your election of a survivor annuity for her. You would have had to…
Q: I am a retired CSRS federal employee with 35 years of service. I also earned 40 quarters under Social Security and receive about half of the Social Security benefit I would get if I were not getting CSRS retirement pay. My wife did not work enough to have 40 quarters, but I understand that she is entitled to half my Social Security benefit. Is she entitled to half my nonreduced Social Security, or half my reduced Social Security? A: Her spousal Social Security benefit would be half of your reduced Social Security benefit. If you were to die first,…
Q: I was planning to retire with FERS this year with 30 years of service at age 59. My husband died, so I have had to rethink my plans. My research has shown that I can draw on my husband’s Social Security at a reduced rate when I turn 60 next year and then switch to my Social Security when I turn 66. Will I still be entitled to the special retirement supplement through my retirement and will the supplement drop when I turn 62? A: You will still be able to receive the special retirement supplement until you become…
Q: Can a widow who is drawing her CSRS retirement from the postal service also draw her recently deceased spouse’s Social Security at the same time? A: Because she is receiving an annuity from a retirement system where she didn’t pay Social Security taxes, she will be subject to the government pension offset provision of law. As a result, her Social Security survivor’s benefit will be reduced by $2 for every $3 she receives in her CSRS annuity.
Q: I am divorced and the divorce decree left my CSRS pension intact (and her state pension was also left intact, so that neither of us will be drawing on each other’s pension). If I retire in the coming year, and remain single, and elect No Survivor Benefit, and retire in 2011, but then in 2012 or 2013, I remarry, can my new wife be provided a Survivor Benefit so that she gets (1) part of my pension upon my death and also (2) qualifies (while I am alive) for FEHB? If I can do that, how would I initiate…