Q: I plan to retire as soon as possible after my Dec. 22, 2011, birthday at age 55 with 34 years service. I understand there are special issues this year for those of us retiring at the end of the year and the way the holiday falls this year. I generally carry over 240 hours each year. I currently have more than 3.5 months SL and will be accruing four hours each pay period this year. How will my annuity be affected by the SL? I’m thinking I’d be better off using it. Can you give me a ballpark figure…
Browsing: Survivor benefits
Q: A CSRS retiree elects a reduced annuity to provide a spouse survival benefit at retirement. If the CSRS retiree dies, would the spouse with survival benefit continue with her scheduled allotment and would there be any additional compensation for the rest of her life in regard to the deceased CSRS retiree’s retirement fund? Secondly, with the same arrangement where the spouse predeceased the CSRS retiree, would the CSRS retiree recover that scheduled allotment and increase his annuity? A: If you were to die, your spouse would be entitled to a survivor annuity. Any of your retirement contributions that hadn’t…
Q: I am a 62-year-old federal employee, about to retire under CSRS after 35 years of employment. My husband is 65 and has worked in the private sector for 40 years. He is receiving a monthly Social Security payment. If I elect a survivor benefit for him, would his Social Security benefit be reduced because of the survivor benefit upon my death? A: No, it would not be reduced. He’d be entitled to his earned Social Security benefit and the survivor annuity you elected for him, without a reduction in either.
Q: My father retired from the U.S. Postal Service with an annuity in the late 1980s. He passed in August of this year and the OPM retirement person says there are no survivor benefits except to a spouse or disabled child. My father was divorced and never remarried. I am his only child and not disabled. She explained that the annuity was paid out to my father during his life and would be prorated from the beginning of the month he received a check to the date of his death, a monthly health insurance deducted and no other funds are…
Q: My question deals with my wife’s Social Security survivor benefit upon my death. I am 70 years old and my wife is 68. Both of us started taking Social Security when we were 62. I receive $1,663 in gross Social Security payments a month, and my wife receives $136. I worked in private industry and retired. My wife worked for the Defense Department and retired under the Civil Service Retirement System, never paying into Social Security. My question is, with these figures, if I died today, what would my wife be entitled to? A: Any Social Security spousal benefit…
Q: When I contacted my U.S. Postal Service personnel office and asked them whether I could name my partner as an insurable interest, I was told that I could not. What must I do to make this happen? We have been together over 11 years now and we own property together. A: Your personnel office contact was mistaken. You can elect an insurable interest annuity for your partner. The way to do that is spelled out in Chapter 52, Survivor Benefit Elections, of the Office of Personnel Management’s CSRS and FERS Handbook for Personnel and Payroll Offices. Just go to…
Q: My father passed away at age 79 on Oct. 29. He and my mother divorced Jan. 31, 1985, and she never remarried. He remarried, but his wife passed away Jan. 26, 2009. He has two adult children from his first marriage. Would his former spouse be entitled to any benefits before his children? There is no beneficiary and no court order on file. A: She wouldn’t be entitled to any retirement benefits. Whether she would have title to any Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance benefits would depend on who he had designated as his beneficiary.
Q: I am a term employee in the Labor Department covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. My term ends Dec. 20. I am also a surviving spouse of a federal employee who was covered under the Civil Service Retirement System. I elected to not take health insurance under the annuity about 15 years ago. I would like to continue my current coverage; can my coverage be converted to the annuity coverage? I am a career status employee with approximately 13 years of federal service, 11 years under CSRS, and I elected not to be included in the Federal Employees Retirement System…
Q: I retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2000 after being divorced in 1997. I gave my ex-wife 100 percent survivor benefits; she recently turned 55. I remarried in 2004 and sent the proper forms needed to add my current wife to my Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. I now have the American Postal Workers Union (472) plan, and I assumed that if I died, my present wife would be able to keep the plan. After talking with the Office of Personnel Management, I was told that I need to have my present wife named as survivor beneficiary for…
Q: I’m a single FERS. My MRA is 56 with 23 ½ years of service. I’d like to defer retirement until 60, which would be this December. I’d like to confirm the MRA +10. In essence I’d really be resigning from the government. My human resources department says they would complete a PAI and SF-50 with the reason for resignation, then I would file my papers directly to OPM in 2014, 60 to 90 days before I’d like my benefits to start. I could wait longer than 2014 if I had outside employment. My main question is, if I don’t…