The surviving spouse, former spouse (if any), and children may qualify for a

survivor annuity if a current CSRS employee dies before retirement.

For CSRS survivor benefits to be payable in a death-in-service case, you must

must have:

• 18 months of creditable civilian service and

• be covered by CSRS at date of death.   

Beneficiary	Elgibility	Annuity Amount	When Annuity Begins/Ends
Surviving Spouse	Must be married to the employee for at least 9 months at time of death or be a parent of a child of the marriage.  The length of marriage requirement is deemed satisfied in cases involving accidental death.	55% of amount you would have received if you had retired at the time of your death -OR - The lesser of: 22% of  highest 3 years' average salary or 55% of amount annuity would have been if you had continued working until age 60 at the same "high-3"	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 the entire 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.
Children	Must be unmarried under the age of 18 (or 22 if attending school) or any age if disabled before age 18.	Each child of a surviving spouse or former spouse will be entitled to a monthly benefit of $XXX. Each child who has no surviving parent or whose surviving parent was never married to you, will be entitled to a monthly benefit of $XXX. These amounts are reduced proportionately if more than three children are eligible for survivor annuities. The amounts of children's benefits (like retiree and spouse annuities) are periodically increased by cost of living increases.	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 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.
Former Spouse	If divorced from you on or after 05/7/1985, 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.	--	--

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Surviving spouse

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.

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 CSRS 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 CSRS survivor annuity begins.

Children

A child's annuity will be paid to his or her guardian if a court has appointed one. If no guardian is appointed, OPM may make the payment to the person who has the care and custody of the child.

Lump-Sum Death Benefits Payment

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. Click here to read  CSRS: Lump Sum Payment Upon Death of a Current Employee

Source:  RI 83-5