If you are retired, get married, are covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), and currently do not have survivor benefits, can you elect one due to your marriage? Do they start your survivor annuity deductions from the date of the marriage or does it go back to the date of retirement? In other words, when is the effective date?
If
you are single when you retire under
FERS and then marry after retirement, you may elect to provide a survivor
annuity for your spouse. You must tell OPM in writing within two years
after your marriage that you want to elect a survivor annuity for your
spouse. Your annuity will be subject to two reductions beginning on the
first day of the first month that begins after you have been married for nine
months. The first reduction is the reduction required to provide the
survivor annuity, equal to 10 percent of your annuity if you elect to provide
your spouse the maximum survivor annuity or equal to 5 percent of your annuity
if you elect to provide your spouse the partial survivor annuity. The
second reduction is the reduction to cover the deposit that you are required to
pay if you elect a survivor annuity for your spouse. The deposit equals
the difference between the amount of the annuity you received before the survivor
election for your spouse is effective (retroactive to the commencing date of
your annuity) and the amount of annuity that you would have received had your
survivor election been in effect as of the commencing date of your annuity,
plus interest. The reduction for the deposit is a permanent
reduction and is calculated to spread out the collection of the deposit over
your lifetime.
If
you are married when you retire
under FERS, and your marriage subsequently ends, you may elect to provide a
survivor annuity for another spouse whom you marry after retirement. You
have two years after your marriage to notify OPM in writing that you want to
elect a survivor annuity for the spouse you married after retirement.
Your annuity will be subject to the two reductions described in the paragraph
above – one reduction to reflect the reduction for the survivor election and
the other reduction to cover the deposit required to make the election – and
the reductions will be effective the first day of the second month after OPM receives
your election, but not less than 9-months after the date of your
post-retirement marriage.
You
can find more information about benefits changes based on a marriage after
retirement by going to the Life
Events webpage on Marriage/Divorce. You can also contact OPM
Retirement Services to talk about the specifics of your case.