The benefits for a disabled child are the same as those for any child with a living parent who was married to the employee or retiree. Image: Erce/Shutterstock.com
By: Reg JonesLast week I described the benefits provided to the children of current or retired federal employees who have passed away. In most cases, those benefits end at age 18, although they can be extended to age 22 if the child is a student regularly attending a full-time course of study or training.
However, there is one circumstance under which they can be continued for the life of a child. That’s when an unmarried child is incapable of self-support because of a physical or mental disability incurred before age 18.
For your child to be approved for an “incapable of self-support” benefit, you will need to provide OPM with information about the child’s education, employment (if any) and residence. In addition, your child’s doctor will have to provide information about the child’s medical condition. An outline of the information needed is in OPM Form RI-25-43, which you can download at www.opm.gov, click on Forms. However, as an alternative, OPM will also accept a copy of a letter from the Social Security Administration if it has already determined that he or she is incapable of self-support because of a physical or mental disability incurred before age 18.
The benefits for a disabled child are the same as those for any child with a living parent who was married to the employee or retiree. To recap those figures from last week:
• If the child has a living parent who was married to the employee or retiree, in 2023 the benefit payable is the lesser of: $635 per month per child, or $1,905 per month divided by the number of eligible children.
• If the child doesn’t have a living parent who was married to the employee or retiree, the benefit payable to the child is the lesser of: $763 per month per child, or $2,289 per month divided by the number of eligible children.
If you were a FERS or CSRS-Offset employee or retiree, the benefit payments will be reduced by the amount of any Social Security benefit payable based on your Social Security-covered federal service.
Note: If your disabled child was married when you died, he or she may be eligible for a disability benefit if the marriage ends. The same is true if the disabled child marries after having been approved for a benefit and that marriage ends through divorce, annulment, or the death of the child’s spouse.
Next week, I’ll close out this series with an article describing the life and health insurance benefits available to the children of deceased federal employees or retirees.
Former head of retirement and insurance policy at the Office of Personnel Management, and longtime FEDweek contributor, Reg Jones is known throughout the federal workforce community as an authority on pay and benefits.
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