Information for Survivor Annuitants

Lost or Missing Payments  

If you do not receive your payment on the first business day of the month, please call your financial institution first for information. If they cannot help, call us during our regular business hours or write to:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Attn: Check Loss
P.O. Box 7815
Washington, DC 20044

Be sure to tell us your full name, survivor annuity claim number, and the date you expected to receive the payment.

If more than two of your payments are returned to us, we will suspend the annuity until you let us know where payments should be made.

If you live in an area that doesn't allow the Department of the Treasury to pay your annuity by fund transfer, we can pay you by check. We will address the checks as you instruct us. To report a lost or missing check, call or write to us as described above.

Eligibility for Survivor Annuity

The widow or widower of a deceased Federal employee is generally eligible for a monthly survivor annuity, provided he or she was married to the deceased for at least nine months before the death. If the surviving spouse had a child with the deceased person or if the death was accidental, the nine-month marriage requirement does not apply. The widow or widower of a deceased annuitant can only be eligible if the annuitant has elected a reduced payment with survivor benefits.

A former spouse may be eligible for a monthly survivor annuity if he or she meets the nine-month marriage requirement and a court order or a survivor election by the deceased provides for the annuity.

Eligibility For More Than One Survivor Annuity From Us

If you are the surviving spouse of more than one retiree, you will need to elect one of the benefits - we cannot pay two survivor annuities. However, we can pay you a separate annuity based on your own Federal service.

The Relationship Between Your Annuity and Social Security Benefits

You may receive both annuity payments and social security payments. Please contact the Social Security Administration for information about social security benefits. The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Offset service covers the situations in which the deceased person performed Federal work that was subject to both social security and civil service retirement deductions. We reduce CSRS Offset survivor annuities if the Social Security Administration informs us that they can pay you a benefit based on the CSRS Offset service.

If you are entitled to receive a civil service annuity based on your own Federal service, there may be a reduction in the amount of any social security benefit you receive based on your deceased spouse's service. Contact any Social Security office for more information.

When Survivor Annuities Begin

If you are a widow or widower, your survivor annuity begins on whichever day is later: the day after the employee or retiree dies or the day after the entitlement of any former spouse ends if that entitlement prevents you from receiving a survivor annuity.

If you are an insurable-interest annuitant, your survivor annuity begins on the day after the death of the retiree on whose service the benefit is based.

If you are a former spouse awarded a survivor annuity based on a qualifying court order, your survivor annuity begins on whichever day is later: the day after the employee or retiree dies or the first day of the second month after we receive a certified copy of the entire court order (along with whatever supporting documentation we require).

If you are a former spouse who applied for the survivor annuity under special provisions of the Civil Service Retirement Spouse Equity Act of 1984, your annuity begins on the day after the employee or retiree dies.

If you are a former spouse who is eligible for a survivor annuity based on a retiree's election, your survivor annuity begins the day after the retiree dies or the day after the entitlement of any other former spouse ends if that entitlement prevents you from receiving the survivor annuity.

When Survivor Annuities End

All survivor annuities end when the survivor dies. Survivor annuities payable to widows, widowers, and former spouses end if the survivor remarries before age 55 and was not married for at least 30 years to the deceased employee or annuitant. The survivor annuity for a former spouse who is entitled because of a court order ends if the terms of the court order are satisfied. Insurable-interest survivor annuities are payable for the life of the survivor. Widows, widowers, and former spouses who remarry after they turn 55 continue to be eligible for survivor annuity benefits. Survivor annuities are payable through the end of the month prior to the date of the event that ended eligibility for the annuity.

Restoration of Survivor Annuities

Survivor annuities that ended because the survivor remarried before age 55 can be restored for widows and widowers whose remarriage ends. Before the benefit can be restored, the survivor must pay back any lump sum we paid to anyone at the time the survivor annuity ended. (Lump sum payments are infrequent because there usually is no unexpended balance of retirement fund contributions.) Former spouse survivor annuities that ended because of remarriage before age 55 can never be restored.

How We Determine Whether to End or Restore Survivor Annuities

The law requires that persons who receive survivor annuities that end upon remarriage before age 55 must notify us if they remarry. We make periodic inquiries to determine whether widows, widowers, or former spouses have remarried. Please note that we must recover monies paid to persons who are no longer entitled.

To notify us of a remarriage, write to the address in Contact OPM. Include a copy of your marriage certificate and provide your survivor annuity claim number (CSF number) and the name of the deceased person on whose service your benefit is based. Use the same address in notifying us that a remarriage has ended. Send us a copy of the divorce, annulment, or death certificate showing that your marriage ended and ask us to restore your survivor annuity.

The Effect of Employment Income on Your Annuity

With one exception, your income from employment with the Government or another employer has no effect on your survivor annuity. If you are a widower whose annuity is based on the service of a Federal employee who died before retiring and before January 8, 1971, your annuity will stop if you accept employment that enables you to support yourself.

Events That Would Cause Your Annuity to Increase

If you are a widow or widower receiving less than the survivor annuity to which you are entitled because a former spouse had prior entitlement based on a court order, your annuity would be increased if the former spouse's entitlement ends due to death, remarriage before age 55, or under the terms of the court order. However, if there is another former spouse who is eligible for a survivor annuity based on a court order, you would not be eligible for this increase.

If you are a former spouse receiving a survivor annuity that is less than what a court ordered and the annuity of another former spouse stops, your annuity would be increased to the full court-ordered share if your court order is next in chronological order.

When an insurable-interest survivor annuity stops because the beneficiary dies, it has no effect on any other survivor annuity.

RI 25-26
Revised April 2001
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