Survivor annuity

What it means

Most pensions offer a choice at retirement: a larger payment for the retiree's life only, or a smaller one that continues to a surviving spouse. The choice is usually irrevocable.

Federal law generally requires a spouse's written, notarized consent before a married worker can waive survivor coverage on a qualified plan.

The survivor's share is often a stated percentage of the original payment rather than the whole of it.

Why it matters

Whether a widow or widower has a continuing income can turn entirely on a form signed decades earlier, and the family usually finds out only when the payments stop.

It is worth confirming while both spouses are alive, when a mistaken waiver can still be discussed with the plan.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a pension stops after a death.
• When a plan administrator asks which option was elected.
• When reviewing a parent's retirement income.

Related terms

• Annuity death benefitWhat an annuity pays when the owner dies — which depends entirely on the contract and its phase.
• Beneficiary designationA named person on an account or policy who receives it directly on death, without it passing through the will or probate.
• ERISAThe federal law governing most employer retirement and benefit plans. It is the reason a plan's own beneficiary form usually beats a will or a state law.
• Federal retirement benefitsThe pension and insurance system for federal civilian employees — FERS or the older CSRS, plus group life cover, each with its own beneficiary record.
• Lump-sum death paymentA one-off Social Security payment to a surviving spouse or, in some cases, a dependent child.
• Pension Benefit Guaranty CorporationThe federal agency that pays pensions when the employer's plan has failed — and holds pensions nobody claimed.
• Qualified domestic relations orderA court order dividing a workplace retirement plan between spouses after a divorce, which the plan must be given in order to act.
• Railroad retirement benefitsA separate federal retirement and survivor system for railroad workers, run by its own board rather than by Social Security.
• Required minimum distributionThe amount that has to be taken out of a retirement account each year once the rules require withdrawals to begin.
• Survivor benefitA continuing payment to a spouse, child or other dependant after somebody dies — from Social Security, a pension, or an annuity.
• Thrift Savings PlanThe retirement savings plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Pensions
• Federal and railroad benefits