Under FERS your survivor spouse’s annuity will depend on your years of creditable service. Image: ANDREI ASKIRKA/Shutterstock.com
By: Reg JonesTalking about death isn’t a comfortable topic. But it’s an important one if you are either married or will be. So, let’s dig right in. If you die while employed by the federal government, your spouse will be entitled to a survivor annuity if four conditions are met:
First, you must have been a FERS or CSRS employee at the time of your death.
Second, you must have completed at least 18 months of creditable civilian service.
Third your spouse must have been married to you for at least 9 months before your death (or be the natural parent of your child or children) or your death must have been accidental.
Fourth, you must not be subject to a court order granting that survivor annuity to a former spouse.
FERS Survivor Benefit
Your survivor spouse’s annuity will depend on your years of creditable service. If you have more than 18 months but fewer than 10 years when you die, your spouse will receive:
• a lump sum payment (currently about $40,300), plus
• a second lump sum payment equal to the greater of
– 1/2 of your basic pay at the time of your death, or
– 1/2 of your high-3 average salary.
That money may be taken in a singe payment or spread out over 36 monthly installments. In addition, if you had over 10 years of creditable service, your spouse will receive the above plus a survivor annuity equal to 50 percent of your base annuity.
If you are a FERS employee with a CSRS component in your annuity, your spouse will receive 50 percent of the combined CSRS and FERS benefit.
Note: If your survivor spouse remarries before age 55, the survivor annuity will end. However, it may be restored if the marriage is ended through annulment, divorce or death of the new spouse.
CSRS Survivor Benefits
Your survivor spouse’s annuity will be entitled to a guaranteed minimum annuity, which is 55 percent of the lesser of the following two amounts:
• 40 percent of the average of your high-3, or
• the amount your annuity would have been if you had continued working to age 60 at the same high-3
The guaranteed minimum doesn’t apply if the spousal annuity based on your actual service is greater. If that’s the case, your spouse would receive 55 percent of your earned annuity.
Note: Under both FERS and CSRS, if your survivor spouse remarries before age 55, he or she will no longer be entitled to a survivor annuity. However, it may be restored if the marriage is ended through annulment, divorce or death of the new spouse.
COLAs
In addition to your spouse’s survivor annuity, he or she will be entitled to an annual cost-of-living adjustment in the same amount as those provided to eligible federal retirees.
Next week, I’ll spell out the annuities available to the surviving spouses of retired federal employees.
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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