Advantages to survivors of the FERS and the CSRS
CSRS | FERS | |
Full advantage cost | 10% of CSRS pension + 2.5% of the first $3600 | 10% of the amount of pension |
Cost of the half survivor payment | 10% of a selected part of CSRS pension + 2.5% of the first $3600 | 5% of the amount of pension |
Advantages of half survivor | 55% of any part of the pension | 25% of pension |
Full survivor payment | 55% of pension | 50% of pension |
As an illustration, consider the following scenario including full survivor payments from FERS and CSRS pensions for governmental retirees earning $50,000 a year:
CSRS | FERS | |
On federal retirees death, the amount of full benefit that the surviving spouse will get | $3600 x 2.5% ($90) + $46,400 x 10% ($4640) = $4730 per year or $394.17 per month | 50% of $50,000 / gross $25,000 per year / $2083.33 per month |
Pension income from the federal government (decreased by survivor advantage) | Gross $45,270 per year / $3772.50 per month | Gross $45,000 per year / $3750.00 |
Annuity from the federal government | Gross $50,000 per year / $4166.67 per month | Gross $50,000 per year / $4166.67 per month |
The cost of receiving full benefits | $3600 x 2.5% ($90) + $46,400 x 10% ($4640) = $4730 per year or $394.17 per month | 50,000 x 10% = $5000 per year or $416.67 per month |
This page explains how survivor benefits operate with a former spouse.
Federal retirees may consider substituting spouse benefits with life insurance. Certain standards must be met for a federal pensioner’s companion to remain eligible for Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB).
Survivors pick perks.
The pair earned FEHB.
COLAs modify FERS, CSRS, and survivor payouts for inflation.
Marriages benefit survivors
Retirement pensions are full, partial, or none. Spouse-signed. Important retirement paperwork. Spouse seeks reduced pension. 30-days following the initial FERS or CSRS payout, death, divorce, or annulment might end a marriage.
What happens when an annuitant’s spouse dies?
Surviving FERS and CSRS pensions are unaffected. Before a partner’s death, reduced pensions are non-refundable.
Married retirees
Married retirees may receive a greater pension, which halves the sale. First, survivor benefits decline – math cuts pension by 5%, resulting in a permanent decline.
Retiring?
Remarried retirees who refused the survivor benefit, divorced, then remarried cannot raise it.
Feds divorce
A judge must grant survivor benefits to an ex-partner. Married government employees can’t retire.
What happens to divorced feds?
Ex-spouses of FERS or CSRS can get survivor benefits. This court order can’t be modified until the employee retires or dies. To prevent pension reductions owing to a former spouse’s survivor benefits claim, the ex-spouse must remarry before 55, die, or have their right canceled. The ex-spouse can earn survivor benefits if they remarry before 55 or if the marriage lasted 30 years or more.
Contact Information:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 9568933225
Bio:
Rick Viader is a Federal Retirement Consultant that uses proven strategies to help federal employees achieve their financial goals and make sure they receive all the benefits they worked so hard to achieve.
In helping federal employees, Rick has seen the need to offer retirement plan coaching where Human Resources departments either could not or were not able to assist. For almost 14 years, Rick has specialized in using federal government benefits and retirement systems to maximize retirement incomes.
His goals are to guide federal employees to achieve their financial goals while maximizing their retirement incomes.