Last week I wrote about the legal requirement that a retiring employee who is married must elect a full survivor annuity for his or her spouse, unless the spouse agrees to a lesser amount or none at all. Such an agreement must be provided to OPM in a signed and notarized letter. Failure to dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s, will lead to a full survivor benefit being provided to the widow(er) instead of the annuity you want.
I also pointed out that the provision of a survivor annuity for your spouse may be superseded by a court-ordered former spouse survivor benefit if your annuity begins (and the marriage was dissolved) on or after May 7, 1985. That’s what we’ll explore this time around.
If you are divorced and the court order ending your marriage stipulated that you must provide a survivor annuity benefit to your former spouse, your own annuity will be reduced in the amount needed to pay for that benefit. It can be the full amount provided by law – 55 percent of your annuity (CSRS) or 50 percent (FERS) – or a lesser amount specified in the court order. Just be aware that the percentage or dollar amount must be clear and require no interpretation. If it isn’t, OPM won’t accept it.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. If the court awards a full survivor annuity to your former spouse and you later remarry, you can still elect a full survivor annuity for your current spouse. Doing that preserves his or her right to a survivor annuity if your ex were to die, remarry before age 55 or if the terms of the court order were time-limited.
If the court ordered benefit is less than a full survivor annuity, and you elect a survivor annuity for your new spouse, he or she will be entitled to the difference, and your annuity will be reduced to pay for it.
By the way, if your former spouse previously waived the right to a survivor annuity, he or she can’t come back later and expect to get one, even if backed by a court order. OPM won’t honor it. What’s done is done.
