Q. What is the difference between a survivor benefit and a full survivor benefit? A. Unless blocked by a court order assigning all or a portion of a survivor benefit to a former spouse, by law a retiring employee is required to provide a full survivor annuity to his or her spouse, unless the spouse agrees to a lesser amount or none at all. A full CSRS survivor annuity would be 55 percent of the retiree’s basic annuity before any deductions are taken out. For FERS it would be 50 percent. For CSRS a lesser survivor annuity can be any dollar…
Browsing: Survivor benefits
Q. If a widow of a retired Postal Service employee has been receiving a death benefit over the years, is there any insurance policy or minimal expense towards final arrangements of the widow? Retirement was 1977 with 30 years of service. Certainly, employee benefits and packages have changed; is there a suggested website or source I can read what may pertain to my situation, I’m not sure where to start? A. Your only entitlements were a survivor annuity, the proceeds of his Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance when he died (if he elected to pay for that coverage), and the right to…
Q. My mother died in the first week of June 2010 as a retired nurse for the VA. I am named as a beneficiary on her plan. When I called about the lump-sum payment I was told that it would only contain funds that my mother did not receive during the month that she died. What happens to the rest of the money that she had in the account that she would be drawing on if she had not died? Why do I only get that one month’s check? A. Since you are neither a spouse nor, I suspect, a child under…
Q: My spouse is 56 and has 17 years in FERS. If she were to die prior to retiring, would I get a monthly annuity benefit or only the lump-sum benefit? A: Because your spouse has 10 or more years of service, if she were to die while still an employee, you would receive both a lump-sum death benefit and a survivor annuity equal to 50 percent of her basic annuity. That annuity would be based on her high-3 and years of service on the day she died.
Q: We were advised at a retirement seminar to check that we have a copy of the designated beneficiary form for life insurance, the TSP, retirement and unused leave. I do not have a copy of the designated beneficiary form that I completed for retirement and unused leave. Since I plan to work three more years, it behooves me to request these forms. What is the title and/or number of the specific forms I need to complete? A: You filled out the necessary forms when you were hired. The only question is whether the designations you made then are the…
Q. I am a federal retiree, and have recently married a woman whose ex-husband (also a federal retiree) assigned ex-spouse survivor benefits to her. (They divorced while he was stilll employed.) She is older than 55, so the age at remarriage is not an issue. I intend to provide at least some sort of survivor benefit for her, so that she will be able to continue health benefits after my death. If I die first, will she be able to select her ex-husband’s (higher) survivor annuity upon his death? (I assume she cannot receive both. ) If both her ex…
Q. My father was a federal employee for 30 years, and he passed away in November 2010. He listed me as his death benefit beneficiary with the intent to grant me an annuity. I applied as his disabled dependent child survivor. I filed my paperwork in January. I heard nothing for months. I finally contacted them by phone in June and asked for them to send me forms for doctors to fill out for my claim. Are child survivor annuities retroactive? I heard that they begin on the day the retiree passes away. If this much time has gone by, …
Q: My father has been a federal employee since 1975 under CSRS. He intends to retire at some point in 2012 and has already elected for my mother to receive survivor benefits. If he passes away before he formally retires, does my mother still receive the survivor benefits, and is the amount the same as the amount would be if he had first formally retired and then passed away? Or does his retirement need to vest before she can collect her full survivor benefits? A: She would be entitled to a survivor annuity in either case. If he were to…
Q: My father passed away a couple of months ago and my stepmother is waiting to receive the FEGLI and annuity packets from OPM. Per my father’s FERS paperwork, he left my stepmother, my brother (deceased) and I (adult child) as his beneficiaries. However, per all the survivor’s information on the OPM website, only children with disabilities, attending college or under the age of 18 are eligible. Is this true? A: Any Federal Employees Group Life Insurance benefits will be divided according to your father’s designation of beneficiaries. However, while your stepmother would be entitled to a survivor annuity, to…
Q. My husband retired under the CSRS in 2003; he died in 2006, at the age of 58, leaving me a CSRS annuity. He had paid in to Social Security his full 40 quarters and would have been entitled to Social Security, had he lived. I also am a federal employee, under the CSRS and still working. I am 62 years old. I’m told that I might be eligible to draw some of his Social Security Benefits at this age until I retire from my current employment. Is this true? A. Yes, while you are working, you are entitled to…