Will my spouse get a retirement annuity if I die?
In general, yes, if you have at least 18 months of service and are married at least 9 months. The 9 month rule doesn’t apply if there was a child born of the marriage or your death was accidental.
If you are covered under CRSR or CRSR-offset your spouse can get 55% of your earned annuity based on your years of service and your average highest 3 years of salary. If a larger benefit would result, your spouse would receive the smaller of the following: 55% of 40% of your highest-3 annual salary or 55% of what your annuity would have been if you had worked until age 60. CSRS-offset subtracts a correction for any survivor benefits. For more info see this document.
If you are covered under FERS, your spouse gets a lump sump of around $30,000 plus 50% of the higher of your annual pay or your highest 3 year average salary. If you have at least 10 years of service, your spouse gets an annuity equal to 50% of your accured annuity based on years of service and average highest 3 years of salary. The annuity will be reduced unless your spouse starts the annuity on the date you would have been eligible for it. Optionally, your spouse can take a lump sum. For more info click here.
In all cases, survivor annuities will receive cost of living increases. Your young children will also receive a small benefit until they reach maturity, although this is reduced by any social security benefit they get. There are special additions for law enforcement officers, firefighters or air traffic controllers.
When buying term life insurance, you should take these generous death benefits into account as it can reduce the total amount of life insurance you need to purchase.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
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