Q: When I retire from the USPS under CSRS I plan to switch to self-only insurance. My husband will be going into the USPS under FERS. He plans on taking out family insurance because we still have a 20-year-old son that we plan to cover. From what I have read this is not possible. I don’t want to risk giving up my health insurance just in case something happens and my husband can’t work. One of us must take the family option because of my son. Can I have self-only while he takes the family option? If not, what would…
Browsing: Survivor benefits
Q: I am a federal employee under CSRS. When I die, my spouse will get the full spouse survivor benefit. She is not and has not been a federal employee. Is it true that when I die most (if not all) of her Social Security benefits will go away because she receives the CSRS survivor benefit? A: Her Social Security benefit won’t be affected in any way unless she is receiving an annuity — in whole or part — from a retirement system where she didn’t pay Social Security taxes.
Q: My husband and I are planning to retire from federal service the end of this year. I have 32 years under the CSRS and my husband is retiring under CSRS-Offset with 30 years of service. I have had no health issues so we have taken out additional life insurance on me to supplement him should I predecease him. However, he has had a number of recent illnesses causing life insurance to be more costly. Therefore, he plans to elect full survivor benefit for me. Can you please explain what impact the WEP and GPO will have on me drawing…
Q: My husband passed away Jan. 25, 2009, and I’m receiving his Social Security benefits, as well as benefits from the U.S. Postal Service. If I remarry, will I lose the benefits from the USPS? I know I will still collect his Social Security. A: Unless you were to remarry before age 55, your survivor annuity wouldn’t be affected. If you did remarry before age 55, that annuity would be suspended. It could only be restarted is the marriage were ended by annulment, divorce or the death of the new spouse.
This is my follow–up question to your answer below on Sept. 28. Q. When I retired five years ago I was then divorced and did not arrange for any spousal survivor benefits. If I elect to marry or remarry, how would my pension be affected? A. If you were to marry, you would have two years to elect a survivor annuity for your new spouse. If you did, there would be two reductions in your annuity. The first would be the standard deduction to provide a survivor annuity, the amount to be determined by whether you elected a full or…
Q. When I retired five years ago I was then divorced and did not arrange for any spousal survivor benefits. If I elect to marry or remarry, how would my pension be affected? A. If you were to marry, you would have two years to elect a survivor annuity for your new spouse. If you did, there would be two reductions in your annuity. The first would be the standard deduction to provide a survivor annuity, the amount to be determined by whether you elected a full or a partial survivor annuity. The second would be a permanent actuarial reduction. The…
Q. My brother in law, who was a senior arbitrator with the IRS, advises my wife that I should arrange for health plan coverage into retirement, which is about six years from now, God willing. He is in the CSRS program and I am in the FERS. He tells my wife, his sister, that I have to apply for payroll deductions for three years to be eligible for “survivorship” forever with no premium payments. Unfortunately, I find no such language when reviewing our plan, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, in Conn. I do find language referring to a TCC for…
Q. I am a FERS participant and my wife is CSRS. Are survivor benefits reduced for either participant because of their earned pension, as is done with GPO? Also, my understanding is my Social Security survivor benefits to my CSRS wife would be reduced/eliminated because of the GPO. For example, if her CSRS pension is $40,000/year, and my Social Security survivor benefit is $12,000/year, there would be no Social Security survivor benefits. A. Either of you would be entitled to an unreduced survivor annuity in addition to your own earned annuity. Because your wife is covered by CSRS, a retirement…
Q: I have been retired (CSRS) for more than 15 years. Because I had enough quarters from moonlighting as a teacher, I also collect Social Security with the windfall reduction. Since retirement I have worked as an educator and may soon reach 30 years of substantial contributions to Social Security. What impact, if any, will this have on my CSRS retirement payments? What impact, if any, will it have on the Social Security payments made to me? How will this impact survivor benefits? A: The fact that you’ve continued to earn Social Security credits after retirement won’t have any effect…
Q: I am a CSRS employee thinking of retiring next year. My husband is on my BCBS policy. My retirement adviser said that when I retire I have to decide whether or not I want to keep my spouse on my policy. If so, then I need to claim the minimal survivor benefit for him. However, when my husband turns 65 he may want to go to Tricare for Life as he is a retired Naval officer. If he does that, then can I cancel the minimal survivor benefit? My advisor says no. Also, if my husband decides to use…