Information for Annuitants

Survivor Elections at Retirement and Afterwards

Survivor benefits, monies payable after your death, are benefits of Federal employment. When you retired from your Federal position, you were given the opportunity to elect a survivor annuity for your spouse, former spouse, or insurable interest survivor(s). Each year we send you a notice stating how your annuity is affected if you marry or divorce after retirement. This annual notice explains the effects of retirement law on your surviving or former spouse and what actions you may want to take to protect your survivor(s).

Under certain conditions, you can name a new survivor or change the election you made at retirement if you file a new election by writing to:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Retirement Operations Center
P.O. Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017-0045

no later than 30 days after the date of your first regular monthly payment. Be sure to include your retirement claim number (CSA number) in your request.

Your first regular monthly payment is the first recurring payment [other than estimated payment(s) or an adjustment payment] after we have determined the regular rate of annuity payable under the Civil Service Retirement System and have paid any annuity which accrued since you retired. When the 30-day period following the date of your first regular monthly payment has passed, you can change your survivor election only as described below, subject to the restrictions discussed on page 7. If the person you named to receive a survivor annuity dies or your current marriage ends through death, divorce, or annulment, you should write to us immediately and provide proof.

A. Change in Election to Provide or Increase a Survivor Benefit for the Spouse You Were Married to at Retirement

If you were married at retirement and either did not provide or elected less than the full survivor annuity for your spouse, you may, within 18 months after retirement, elect an annuity reduction to provide or increase the survivor benefit if you are still married to the same person. By law, you also must pay a deposit equal to the amount by which your annuity would have been reduced had the election been made at retirement plus an amount equal to 24.5 percent of the increase in the base designated for the survivor annuity. Interest is charged on the deposit.

You must request the election change in writing and pay the deposit that we calculate no later than 18 months after your annuity start date. Failure to pay the deposit in full within the deadline (or within 30 days after we notify you of the amount due, if later) will void the election. An election to provide or increase a survivor benefit during this 18-month period cancels any spousal consent to a less-than-full survivor annuity.

B. Election to Provide a Survivor Annuity Benefit for a Spouse You Marry After Retirement

If your annuity began on or after May 7, 1985, or if you marry on or after February 27, 1986 (regardless of the date on which your annuity began), you may elect to provide a survivor annuity for a spouse you marry after retirement as described below. If you make this election, your monthly annuity will be reduced. We will send you detailed information about your reduced annuity when you tell us you want to make this election.

If you were unmarried at retirement and married afterward, you must notify us in writing within two years after the marriage if you want to provide a survivor annuity benefit. The reduction in your annuity begins no earlier than the first of the month beginning 9 months after the marriage date.

If you were married at retirement, experience the end of the marriage (through death, divorce, or annulment), and marry again, you must notify us in writing within two years after the marriage if you want to elect a reduction in your annuity to provide a survivor annuity for your new spouse. The reduction in your annuity begins no earlier than 9 months after the marriage date.

If your current spouse was married to you when you retired and consented to a survivor annuity benefit based on less than all of your annuity, you cannot elect a survivor annuity greater than the amount provided in your original election.

C. Election to Provide a Survivor Annuity for a Former Spouse

You may elect a reduction in your annuity to provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse as described below if:

1. You were married to your former spouse for at least 9 months before the marriage terminated due to divorce or annulment;
2. You performed at least 18 months of civilian service subject to retirement deductions; and
3. Your former spouse to whom you were married for less than 30 years has not remarried before reaching age 55.

We will send you information about your reduced annuity when you want to make this election.

If your annuity reduction to provide a former spouse annuity ends and you had elected a survivor annuity for your current spouse (or another former spouse) when you retired, the annuity reduction will continue to provide the survivor annuity for that person. However, if you have not previously made an election regarding a current spouse you married after retirement, you may, within two years after the former spouse's death or remarriage before age 55, elect a reduced annuity to provide a survivor annuity for your current spouse. Note that if you were married to your former spouse for 30 years or more, your former spouse's remarriage before age 55 does not terminate entitlement to a survivor annuity; in this event you do not have another two-year period in which to elect your current spouse.

If your annuity began before May 7, 1985, you can elect to give a former spouse a survivor annuity if your election is filed within two years after the marriage terminates and (1) you had elected, while you were married, to provide a survivor annuity for that person prior to May 7, 1985, and (2) that marriage terminates on or after May 7, 1985. In this instance, if you marry again before electing a former spouse survivor annuity, your spouse must consent to the election.

If your annuity began on or after May 7, 1985, and your marriage terminates on or after May 7, 1985, you can elect a survivor annuity for your former spouse within two years after the marriage ends. If you marry again before making this election, your spouse must consent to the election.

Note: If you retired on or after May 7, 1985, and you elect to provide a former spouse (to whom you were married at retirement) with a survivor annuity, you cannot provide a survivor annuity that is inconsistent with any joint waiver you and your spouse made at that time.

D. Converting an Insurable Interest Survivor Annuity to a Regular Survivor Annuity Benefit

You cannot elect to provide an insurable interest survivor annuity after retirement. However, you can change an insurable interest survivor annuity elected at retirement to a regular survivor annuity after retirement (without paying a deposit) as described below:

1. If, at retirement, you received (by election or court order) a reduced annuity to provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse and you elected to provide an insurable interest survivor annuity for your current spouse, you may change the insurable interest election to a full regular current spouse survivor annuity by requesting the change in writing within two years after your former spouse loses entitlement; or

2. If, after retirement, you marry the person named to receive the insurable interest benefit, you can elect to provide a regular survivor annuity for that person within two years after the marriage. If you do so, the insurable interest benefit will be canceled.

If you had elected to provide an insurable interest benefit when you retired and (1) you marry someone other than the person named to receive the insurable interest benefit and (2) you elect to provide a survivor annuity for your spouse, you may elect to cancel the insurable interest benefit.

E. Restrictions

Your post-retirement survivor elections are subject to the following restrictions:

1. They cannot be honored if they conflict with the terms of a court order that requires you to provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse, and
2. They cannot be honored if they cause the combined current and former spouse survivor annuities to exceed 55 percent of your unreduced annuity (unless you retired before May 7, 1985, and elected to provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse by September 8, 1987).

If you believe you are eligible to change your survivor election, you should write to:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Retirement Operations Center
P.O. Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017-0045.

Be sure to include a copy of your marriage certificate, proof of termination of the prior marriage (if applicable), and your retirement claim number (CSA number).

Survivor Reductions Based on Court Orders

Your annuity will be reduced if your former spouse was awarded a survivor annuity by qualifying court order. If you retired on or after May 7, 1985, we will honor the terms of a court order that requires you to provide a survivor annuity for an eligible former spouse for a marriage dissolved on or after May 7, 1985. If you are divorced after retirement from a spouse to whom you were married at retirement, we will honor the terms of a qualifying court order for that person to the extent that your annuity was reduced at retirement; if you did not elect to provide a survivor annuity for that spouse at retirement, the court order will not be honored.

If you retired before May 7, 1985, we will honor the terms of a qualifying court order that requires you to provide a survivor annuity for an eligible former spouse in connection with a marriage that was dissolved on or after May 7, 1985, but only if (1) you were married to that person at retirement and elected to provide a survivor annuity at that time, or (2) you married after retirement and elected to provide a survivor annuity for that person before May 7, 1985.

RI 20-59
Revised April 1999
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