Q. What is the percentage paid by the U.S. Treasury toward our monthly annuity account when we retire under CSRS? A. It’s not surprising that no one could answer the question, because there isn’t any one answer. It all depends. If an employee retired before June 2, 1986, all of his annuity payments were considered to be a return of his retirement contributions and weren’t taxable, since they had already been taxed as income while he was working. When the amount in his account ran out, all of the annuity payments he received were from the government and, as such,…
Browsing: survivor
Q. I am looking at my Federal Employee Benefits Statement. Can you tell me what the difference is between the estimated annuity without survivorship, with max survivorship, and annuity to survivor? A. If you are unmarried, you would receive the full benefit to which you are entitled based on your years of service, high-3 and the formula used to calculate an annuity (either CSRS or FERS). If you are married, you are required by law to provide a full survivor annuity to your spouse (55 percent for CSRS; 50 percent for FERS). Under CSRS, you could provide any amount of…
Q. My wife was a retired federal employee under CSRS. She received her last pension payment two days after she died. The same day, they withdrew the same amount electronically. I always assumed that the annuity payments made sometime the first few days of the month were actually for the previous month. In other words, if the person was alive the entire month, they would receive that payment. What happens for the month before she died? Will there eventually be a payment as part of the final accounting? A. According to the Office of Personnel Management, “The accrued annuity is…
Q. I was told that I may be eligible for part of my father’s CSRS pension now that he is deceased and I have become disabled and cannot work. If so, where do I fill out the paperwork and who do I contact about this? A. You were misinformed. Children are never entitled to a portion of their parent’s annuity. You would only have been eligible for a children’s benefit if, while you father was living, you were unmarried, disabled before age 18, incapable of self-support, and financially dependent on him.
Q: I am a CSRS employee. What is the minimum survivor benefit I need to select if I want my wife covered under health insurance? Can I select $1? A: Yes, but if you elect something other than a full survivor benefit, your spouse will have to agree to it in writing.
Q: My husband retired under the Civil Service Retirement System Offset program and had a 55 percent survivor benefit for me. I am Federal Employees Retirement System employee, and I will be retiring in three years with the maximum survivor benefit for him. Whoever dies first, will the other one receive survivor benefits and will the survivor’s other federal benefits be reduced by how much they receive from the deceased? A: There wouldn’t be any reduction. You would be able to receive both your own annuity and the survivor benefit provided by your deceased spouse.
Q: My 76-year-old mother got married last year to a 76-year-old man. After they got married, they were getting about $5,000 a month from his Civil Service Retirement System annuity and about $1,500 a month from her Social Security. Sadly, he had a massive heart attack two weeks ago and passed away. They had been married 11 months. This gentleman had told my mother that he had named her as the beneficiary of his survivor annuity and that she would receive about $3,000 a month if he died first. Will my mother’s $1,500-per-month Social Security be affected by this annuity?…
Q: For my spouse to continue to be covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits program after I retire from federal service and after my death, which type of annuity should I select? My spouse does not want to receive a survivor annuity and will consent to sign an attachment to SF 2801-2, Spouse’s Consent to Survivor Election, but he needs the FEHB coverage. A: He can’t be covered under the FEHB program unless he is receiving a survivor annuity. However, as a Civil Service Retirement System employee, with your husband’s written consent, you could elect to give him any…
Q: I am a federal employee under the Civil Service Retirement System with 35 years of service, and I am 60 years old. I plan on working another two to five years. If I die before I retire, will my wife automatically receive a full CSRS survivorship annuity? I plan on selecting a full survivorship annuity when I do retire but was wondering what happens if I don’t make it. A: Yes, if you were to die before retiring, your widow would automatically receive a full survivor annuity. The only exception to this rule is if there is a court…