CSRS Civil Service 

Retirement 

System 

Retirement

Facts

5

Survivor Benefits 

Under the 

Civil Service 

Retirement 

System 

RI 83-5 

The September 1996 edition is still usable. Revised October 1997

United States 

Office of 

Personnel 

Management 

Retirement and 

Insurance 

Service 
Additional retirement information and all publications of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management 

listed in this pamphlet are available on the Internet. 

OPM Website -- http://www.opm.gov/asd 
Table of Contents 

Page 

Introdution..............................................................1 

Survivor Annuities Upon Death of a 

Current Employee .............................................1 

Surviving Spouse ...................................................1 

Survivor Annuities and Military 

Retired Pay ........................................................2 

Children..................................................................2 

Former Spouse .......................................................3 

Lump Sum Payment Upon Death of 

a Current Employee...........................................4 

Additional Information...........................................5 

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Introduction 

This pamphlet is for employees covered by the 

Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and their 

family members who want information about survivor benefits under the CSRS. For further information and application forms, your family 

members should contact your employing agency. 

Benefits are different for survivors of those who 

die after retirement. If you need information about 

benefits for survivors of retirees, you should read 

“Information for Survivor Annuitants,” 

(RI 25-26). 

Survivor Annuities Upon Death of a 

Current Employee 

Your widow or widower, former spouse (if any), 

and children may qualify for a survivor annuity if 

your death occurs while you are employed subject 

to the Civil Service Retirement System provided 

you completed at least 18 months of civilian service. 

Surviving Spouse 

To qualify for a survivor annuity, your spouse 

must have been married to you a total of 9 months. 

That requirement does not apply, though, if there is 

a child born of the marriage or your death is accidental. 

If your surviving spouse qualifies, he or she will 

receive annually 55 percent of the amount you 

would have received if you had retired at the time 

of your death (this is called the “earned annuity”) 

or the lesser of: 22 percent of your highest 3 years 

average salary or 55 percent of the amount your 

annuity would have been if you had continued 

working until age 60 at the same “high-3.” Since 

the formula for determining survivors’ benefits is 

so similar to the formula for determining disability 

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retirement benefits, you may want to refer to the 

detailed discussion and examples of the comparison of these three annuity computations in “Retirement Facts 4 - Disability Retirement Under the 

Civil Service Retirement System.” If you are under 

the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Offset plan, “Retirement Facts #13 - CSRS Offset 

Retirement” has information about survivor benefits for Offset employees. 

A spouse’s survivor annuity begins on the day 

after your death. (It may be paid to a person other 

than your present spouse if a qualifying court order 

has awarded all of the survivor annuity to a former 

spouse.) It ends at the end of the month preceding 

the month in which the survivor dies or remarries 

before age 55. 

If your surviving spouse remarries before age 55 

and the annuity terminates, the survivor annuity 

may be restored if the remarriage ends by death, 

annulment, or divorce. 

Survivor Annuities and Military 

Retired Pay 

If you are receiving military retired pay and die in 

service without waiving it, your surviving spouse 

can still receive credit for your military service in 

the computation of the CSRS survivor annuity. 

However, the survivor annuity will be reduced by 

the amount of any military survivor benefit you 

provided. In some cases, it may be to your surviving spouse’s advantage to exclude credit for your 

military service. Your spouse will be given the 

information needed to decide whether or not to 

exclude credit for your military service before the 

survivor annuity begins. 

Children 

Children qualify for survivor annuities if they are 

under 18 and unmarried. A child 18 or older may 

also qualify for a survivor annuity if incapable of 

self support because of a disability incurred prior 

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to age 18. In addition, a son or daughter 18 or 

older may be eligible for a survivor annuity up to 

age 22 if he or she is a full-time student at a high 

school, college, or other recognized educational 

institution. Each child of a surviving spouse or 

former spouse will be entitled to a monthly benefit 

of $337. Each child who has no surviving parent or 

whose surviving parent was never married to you, 

will be entitled to a monthly benefit of $404. These 

amounts are reduced proportionately if more than 

three children are eligible for survivor annuities. 

The amount of children’s benefits (like retiree and 

spouse annuities) are periodically increased by cost 

of living increases. 

The children’s rates quoted above are applicable 

from December 1996, through December 1997. 

The survivor annuity to each qualified child begins 

the day after your death and ends when the child 

reaches 18 (unless a student or disabled child as 

described above), marries, or dies. The survivor 

annuity to a student ends when he or she marries, 

dies, attains age 22, or ceases to be a full-time student. The survivor annuity to a disabled child ends 

if the child becomes capable of self-support, marries, or dies. 

A child’s annuity will be paid to his or her guardian if one has been appointed by a court. If no 

guardian is appointed, the U.S. Office of Personnel 

Management may make the payment to the person 

who has the care and custody of the child. 

Former Spouse 

A former spouse who was divorced from you on or 

after May 7, 1985, may receive all or part of the 

annuity otherwise payable to a surviving spouse if 

a court order requires it. To be eligible, the former 

spouse must have been married to you for at least 9 

months, and must not remarry before age 55. 

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Lump Sum Payment Upon Death of a 

Current Employee 

If you die leaving no survivors who qualify for a 

survivor annuity, your contributions to the Civil 

Service Retirement Fund, plus any applicable 

interest, will be paid as a lump-sum death benefit. 

No interest is payable if you had paid into the 

Retirement Fund for less than 1 year or had more 

than 5 years of civilian service. If you leave survivors who qualify for a survivor annuity, no lumpsum death benefit is payable immediately. A 

lump-sum payment may be made later if, when the 

survivors’ annuities end, they have received in 

annuities an amount less than your contributions to 

the Retirement Fund, plus any applicable interest. 

Then the remainder of your contributions would be 

payable. 

If a lump-sum death benefit is payable, it will be 

paid to the person or persons you named as beneficiary. If you did not designate a beneficiary, the 

lump-sum death benefit would be payable in this 

order: 

First: to your widow or widower; 

Second: to your child or children in equal shares, 

with the share of any deceased child 

distributed among the descendants of 

that child; 

Third: to your parents (or parent); 

Fourth: to the executor or administrator of your 

estate; 

Fifth: if none of the above, to your next of kin 

who may be entitled under the laws of the 

State in which you live at the time of your 

death. 

You do not have to designate a beneficiary to 

receive the lump-sum death benefit unless you 

wish the benefit to be paid differently from the 

order set out above. A designation of beneficiary 

is for lump-sum death benefit purposes only and 

does not affect the right of any person who can 

qualify for a survivor annuity. 

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A designation of beneficiary must be in writing (on 

Standard Form 2808) and must be received in the 

U.S. Office of Personnel Management before your 

death. If you designate a beneficiary, remember 

to review your designation periodically. If your 

marital or family status changes, you may want to 

reconsider the designation you have on file. 

Additional Information 

You may obtain copies of the pamphlets listed 

below from your personnel office, from the OPM’s 

Website (http://www.opm.gov/asd), or from OPM 

ONLINE (OPM’s electronic bulletin board) at 

(202) 606-4800. To access OPM ONLINE, your 

communications software should be set to the following: 

Baud: Up to 28,800 

Parity: None 

Data bits: 8 

Stop bit: 1 

The pamphlets in the Retirement Facts Series, 

which provide more detailed information about the 

Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), are: 

· Retirement Facts #1 - The Civil Service Retirement System (RI 83-1) 

· Retirement Facts #2 - Military Service Credit 

Under the Civil Service Retirement System 

(RI 83-2) 

· Retirement Facts #3 - Deposits and Redeposits 

Under Civil Service Retirement System 

(RI 83-3) 

· Retirement Facts #4 - Disability Retirement 

Under the Civil Service Retirement System 

(RI 83-4) 

· Retirement Facts #5 - Survivor Benefits Under 

the Civil Service Retirement System (RI 83-5) 

· Retirement Facts #6 - Early Retirement Under 

the Civil Service Retirement System (RI 83-6) 

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· Retirement Facts #7 - Computing Retirement 

Benefits Under the Civil Service Retirement 

System (RI 83-7) 

· Retirement Facts #8 - Credit for Unused Sick 

Leave Under the Civil Service Retirement System (RI 83-8) 

· Retirement Facts #9 - Refunds Under the Civil 

Service Retirement System (RI 83-9) 

· Retirement Facts #10 - Voluntary Contributions Under the Civil Service Retirement System (RI 83-10) 

· Retirement Facts #11 - Information for Separating Civil Service Retirement System 

Employees Who Are Not Eligible for an Immediate Annuity (RI 83-13) 

· Retirement Facts #12 - Information About 

Reemployment for Civil Service Retirement 

System Annuitants (RI 83-18) 

· Retirement Facts #13 - CSRS Offset Retirement (RI 83-19) 

· Retirement Facts #14 - Law Enforcement and 

Firefighter Civil Service Retirement System 

Retirement (RI 83-20) 

Pamphlets applicable to employees in both the 

Civil Service Retirement System and Federal 

Employees Retirement System are: 

· Court-Ordered Benefits for Former Spouses 

(RI 84-1) 

· Work-Related Injuries and Fatalities -- What 

You and Your Family Need to Know About 

Your Benefits (RI 84-2) 

· Life Events and Your Retirement and Insurance 

Benefits (For Employees) (RI 84-3) 

· Thinking About Retirement? (RI 83-11) 

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Publications for employees who are under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are: 

· FERS Brochure (An Overview of Your Benefits) - (RI 90-1) 

· FERS Facts #1 - Information for Separating 

FERS Employees Who Are Not Eligible for an 

Immediate Annuity (RI 90-11) 

· FERS Facts #2 - Information About Reemployment for FERS Annuitants (RI 90-18) 

For employees who are eligible to transfer to the 

FERS: 

· FERS Transfer Handbook (A Guide to Making 

Your Decision) (RI 90-3) 

Pamphlets on the Federal Employees Health and 

Life Insurance Programs are: 

· Federal Employees Health Benefits Guide 

(RI 70-1) 

· Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC) 

under the Federal Employees Health Benefits 

Program (RI 79-27) 

· Federal Employees Group Life Booklet 

(RI 76-21) 

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