Special Survivor Benefit Election Opportunity Ending

Friday (June 26) marks the end of a special retirement survivor benefit election opportunity that was created in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act’s provision defining marriage, for federal benefits purposes, as only between opposite sexes. That in turn triggered several changes in federal employee benefits policies, including making a spouse in a same-sex marriage recognized in the jurisdiction in which it was performed—regardless of the policy in the jurisdiction of current residence—eligible for retirement survivor benefits. Retirees who were in same-sex marriages that predated the decision and who couldn’t provide such a benefit because of the DOMA law were given two years, effective from the date of the high court’s decision, to provide for a survivor benefit if they wish. That window paralleled the general policy that those who marry after retirement get two years to decide whether to provide for a survivor benefit; in this case the marriage was not new, but newly recognized. Adding a survivor benefit after retirement means accepting a reduction in the annuity. Since the decision, newly retiring employees who are in same-sex marriages may elect survivor benefits at retirement under standard policies, also with a reduction in the retiree’s benefit.