FERS Survivor Annuity
One election decides what your spouse keeps from your pension
Survivor Annuity Calculator
When a FERS retiree dies, the pension stops. A survivor annuity is what keeps part of it flowing to your spouse. If you're married, the law defaults you to the full survivor benefit; choosing anything less takes your spouse's notarized consent. See what each election costs you and pays your spouse.
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Enter your gross annual pension to see each election's cost.
Estimate only. Not financial, legal, or tax advice. FERS offers exactly two payable levels (50% for a 10% reduction, or 25% for a 5% reduction), applied to your gross annuity. The election is made at retirement and is generally permanent. Your official figures come from OPM and your servicing HR/benefits office.
Warning: With no survivor annuity elected, your spouse also loses FEHB health coverage at your death, with no way to re-enroll.
The Two FERS Elections (Plus None)
FERS does not let you pick a custom amount. There are exactly two levels, full and partial, or you may elect none. Both payable levels are computed from your unreduced pension.
Full Survivor Annuity
Your surviving spouse receives 50% of your unreduced pension for the rest of their life.
- Your cost: 10% reduction to your gross annual pension
- Eligible for annual COLA adjustments
Partial Survivor Annuity
Your surviving spouse receives 25% of your unreduced pension for the rest of their life.
- Your cost: 5% reduction to your gross annual pension
- Preserves your spouse's FEHB eligibility at a lower cost than the full level
No Survivor Annuity
You pay nothing. Your spouse receives nothing when you die. The annuity stops, and their FEHB coverage ends with it.
Any election below the full level (partial or none) requires your spouse's written, notarized consent (SF 3107-2), filed with your retirement application.
The Survivor Annuity–FEHB Linkage
The Most Overlooked Rule on This Page
A surviving spouse keeps FEHB after your death only if two things are true at that moment: a survivor annuity is payable to them, and they were covered under your Self Plus One or Self and Family enrollment. Elect none, and your spouse loses both at once:
- Your pension income: the annuity stops entirely.
- Subsidized health insurance: they are dropped from FEHB with no way to re-enroll.
To keep FEHB available to your spouse, elect a payable survivor annuity (full or partial) and keep them on your Self Plus One or Self and Family enrollment. How FEHB carries into retirement →
When You Decide, and the Rare Exceptions
You elect at retirement on your application (SF 3107), and the election is generally permanent. Only a few things can change it afterward.
- Within 18 months after your annuity begins, you may newly elect or increase to a survivor annuity for your spouse by paying a deposit plus a permanent actuarial reduction (5 U.S.C. § 8416(d); the deposit is computed under § 8418).
- If you marry after retirement, you have 2 years from the marriage to elect a survivor annuity for your new spouse, paid for by a deposit plus a permanent actuarial reduction (5 U.S.C. § 8416(b)–(c)). Miss the window and the option is gone.
- If your elected spouse predeceases you, or you divorce, the cost stops (see the rule below).
Four Rules That Change the Math
The reduction stops if your spouse dies first
The 10% (or 5%) reduction is not a permanent sunk cost. If your elected spouse predeceases you, or you divorce and no court order requires a former-spouse annuity, the reduction stops and your annuity is restored to the full, unreduced amount going forward. (5 U.S.C. § 8419(a)(2).)
The 9-month marriage rule
A surviving spouse is generally entitled to the survivor annuity (and the FEHB that rides on it) only if you were married at least 9 months at the time of your death, unless the death was accidental or a child was born of the marriage. This matters if you marry late in retirement. (5 U.S.C. § 8441.)
Remarriage before 55 ends it
The survivor annuity (and the FEHB tied to it) terminates if your surviving spouse remarries before age 55, unless your marriage lasted at least 30 years. Remarriage at 55 or later has no effect. (5 U.S.C. § 8442.)
A court order can claim it first
If a divorce awarded your former spouse a survivor annuity by qualifying court order, that claim comes first: it reduces or eliminates what's available to a current spouse, and no election at retirement can override it. (5 U.S.C. § 8445.)
Insurable Interest
If you're unmarried at retirement, or a court order already gives a former spouse the survivor annuity, you can elect a survivor benefit for someone with an insurable interest in your life. You must be in reasonably good health (OPM can require medical evidence), and the election isn't available on a disability retirement.
Insurable interest elections carry a much higher cost: the pension reduction runs from 10% up to 40%, growing with the age gap between you and your designated beneficiary. That person then receives 55% of your reduced annuity.
Children's Survivor Benefits
FERS pays automatic survivor benefits for eligible dependent children at no cost to you, on top of any spousal survivor annuity.
- Eligible: unmarried dependent children under age 18 (under 22 if a full-time student)
- Dependent children disabled before age 18 may receive benefits for life
- The per-child amount is set by law and adjusted annually
Often Reduced to $0
The FERS child benefit is offset dollar-for-dollar by Social Security child survivor benefits. Social Security is usually larger, so in practice the FERS benefit often drops to $0.