One of the unfortunate life events that all individuals experience is the death of a loved one – a parent, sibling, child or a spouse. For relatives of deceased federal employees or retired employees, there will most likely be death benefits payable to many of these relatives.
The question is how do these beneficiaries obtain these benefits in the most timely and efficient way.
This column presents guidance for surviving family members of deceased federal employees (those employees who die while still in federal service) and deceased annuitants (retired employees who die after retiring from federal service) about what tasks have to be performed to receive survivor benefits.
It is important to first review all of the beneficiary forms that all employees should complete and submit as early as possible in their federal service. If any of the following beneficiary forms that have not been completed and submitted, then any uncompleted form should be completed and submitted as possible. If any beneficiary form has to be updated due to a life event (for example, death of a family member, marriage or divorce), the form should be updated and resubmitted as soon as possible.
Beneficiary Forms
The following beneficiary forms should be filled out and submitted. With the exception of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) beneficiary form, all forms can be downloaded from www.opm.gov/forms. Form TSP-3 can be downloaded from www.tsp.gov.
SF 1152 (Designating of Beneficiary – Unpaid Compensation of Deceased Civilian Employee). This form is used to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased employee’s last paycheck and unused annual leave in the event that the employee dies while still in federal service. This form should be submitted to the employee’s Human Resources or Personnel Office.
SF 2823 (Designation of Beneficiary, Federal Group Life Insurance Program). This form is used to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased employee’s FEGLI life insurance and should be submitted to the Office of FEGLI.
TSP-3 (Designation of Beneficiary of Thrift Savings Plan). This form is used to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased TSP participant’s traditional and Roth TSP accounts and should be submitted to the TSP Service Office.
SF 2808 (Designation of Beneficiary, CSRS). This form is used to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased CSRS or CSRS-Offset individual’s CSRS contributions upon the later of the death of the CSRS annuitant or CSRS survivor annuitant and should be submitted to OPM.
SF 3102 (Designation of Beneficiary, FERS). This form is used to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased FERS individual’s FERS contributions upon the of the later of the death of the FERS annuitant or FERS survivor annuitant and should be submitted to OPM.
Steps to Be Taken: Death of an Employee
All employees are strongly encouraged to share this information with family and their financial advisors. It is most important that an employee appoint someone – a family member, his or her attorney or a trusted financial advisor, who would be responsible to perform the following necessary actions upon the death of the employee:
- Contact the deceased employee’s agency as soon as possible that the employee has died. Assuming the agency is not immediately aware of the employee’s death (for example, the employee died during the weekend, a federal holiday, on vacation or died in a hospital after a prolonged illness), the deceased employee’s agency, Human Resources or Personnel Office should be contacted. Among the actions that the agency will take upon notification of the employee’s death is to contact the agency’s payroll processing office in order to process the employee’s last paycheck and lump sum payment for unused annual leave to the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries, as indicated on SF 1152.
- Family members apply for benefits by having a designated individual complete the following forms:
(a) CSRS/CSRS-Offset – SF 2800 (Application for Death Benefits –CSRS) and SF 2800A (Documentation and Elections in Support of Application for Death Benefits When Deceased Was an Employee at the Time of Death) . Both SF 2800 and SF 2800A may be downloaded from www.opm.gov/forms.
(b) FERS – SF 3104 (Application for Death Benefits – FERS) and SF 3104B (Documentation and Elections in Support of Application for Death Benefits When Deceased Was an Employee at the Time of Death). Both SF 3100 and SF 3104B may be downloaded from www.opm.gov/forms.
A copy of the employee’s death certificate and a copy of the certificate of the marriage to the widow or widower should be attached to Forms SF 2800 or SF 3104. SF 2800 or SF 3104/SF 3104B and the death cerificate should be mailed to the Human Resources or Personnel Office servicing the agency where the deceased was last employed. The Personnel Office will mail the complete application and the employee’s death certificate to the Office of Personnel Management’s Retirement Operations.
A widow(er) who is claiming benefits for him or herself and on behalf of children should file one application.
Some guidance for beneficiaries regarding sf 2800A (Documentation and Elections in Support of Application for Death Benefits When Deceased Was an Employee at the Time of Death – CSRS/CSRS-Offset), and SF 3104B (Documentation and Elections in Support of Application for Death Benefits When Deceased Was an Employee at the Time of Death – FERS):
- SF 2800A. This form should be completed only if the deceased was a federal employee under CSRS or CSRS-Offset at the time of his or her death. A designated individual will obtain this form and complete Section 2 (Information and Election Regarding Post-1956 Military Service). Section 1 and 3 will be completed by the deceased employee’s agency and then form SF 2800A will be forwarded by the deceased employee’s agency to OPM.
- SF 3104B. This form should be completed only if the deceased was a federal employee under FERS at the time of his or her death. A designated individual will obtain this form and fill out Section 4 (Information and Elections Regarding Post-1956 Military Service) and Section 5 (Rollover Option Information and Death Benefit Payment Election Form – to be completed by the surviving spouse or surviving former spouse, if appropriate). The other sections (1, 2, 3, and 6) will be filled out by the deceased employee’s agency and submitted to OPM, together with SF 3104.
- Claim for FEGLI Life Insurance Benefits. For those deceased employees who were enrolled in FEGLI, the life insurance proceeds paid to beneficiaries as reported on SF 2823 may be claimed from the Office of FEGLI. Form FE-6, downloaded from https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/fe6.pdf, must be completed and submitted to the Office of FEGLI. Either one of the beneficiaries or the deceased’s Executor can complete and submit to the Office of FEGLI.
- Claim for TSP benefits. Upon the death of a TSP participant, a representative of the estate (Executor, or Trustee) needs to complete and submit Form TSP-17 (Information Relating to Deceased Participant) . TSP-17 is used to provide information about potential beneficiaries of a deceased participant’s TSP account(s). If the deceased participant had multiple accounts with the TSP, the information provided on TSP-17 will be applied to each account separately. If a valid Form TSP-3 (Designation of Beneficiary) is on file with the TSP record keeper for the account, payment of the account will be made according to the designations. In that case, the information provided on Form TSP-17 may be used to update beneficiary information, for example an address, on file with the TSP record keeper.
- Other insurance benefits. If the deceased employee had dental and/or vision insurance coverage through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), and the coverage included one eligible family member (spouse or a child under the age of 22), self plus one coverage, or multiple eligible family members (self and family coverage), then coverage will continue. This is because a spousal survivor annuity is being paid and the surviving spouse should go to the Web site, www.benefeds.com and find out how coverage will continue. Note that nowhere on Form 3104B or Form 3104 is anything mentioned about the FEDVIP and FLTCIP.
If a surviving spouse is enrolled in the Federal Long-Term Insurance Program (FLTCIP), then the surviving spouse should go to the FLTCIP Web site at: www.ltcfeds.com and request his or her survivor annuity check, or if no survivor annuity check is being paid, to make arrangements to pay the FLTCIP premium.
Steps to Be Taken: Death of an Annuitant
All annuitants are strongly encouraged to share the information below with family and their financial advisors. It is most important that annuitants appoint someone – a family member, their attorney or a trusted financial advisor, who would be responsible to perform the necessary actions upon the death of the annuitant.
Survivors, family or estate representatives are required to notify OPM in the event of the annuitant’s death. Life events, such as marriage/divorce, death of a spouse or reemployment can affect benefits and must be reported to OPM immediately. The best way to contact OPM is through email: retire@opm.gov. OPM can be contacted by telephone from 7:40 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday – Friday at 888-767-6738 or TTY: 855-887-4957.
All payments received from OPM after the annuitant’s date of death must be returned to the Treasury Department. Since most annuitants have electronic deposit of their annuity checks, the deceased’s family representative must inform the financial institution where the payment was deposited of the annuitant’s death.
- Report the death of a federal annuitant, the deceased’s representative should complete the online form: Report the Death of a Retiree or Survivor Annuitant, which can be found at: https://rsreporting.opm.gov/AnnuitantDeath. The family needs to:
- Apply for benefits by having a designated individual complete and submit the following forms:
(a) CSRS/CSRS Offset – SF 2800 (Application for Death Benefits – CSRS) that can be downloaded from www.opm.gov/forms; or
(b) FERS – SF 3104 (Application for Death Benefits – FERS) that can be downloaded from www.opm.gov/forms.
A copy of the annuitant’s death certificate and a copy of the certificate of the marriage to the widow(er) should be attached to Form SF 2800 or SF 3104 and should be mailed to:
Office of Personnel Management
Retirement Operations Center
Attention: Survivor Processing Section
P.O. Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017-0045
- Make a claim for FEGLI life insurance benefits. For those deceased annuitants who were enrolled in FEGLI, the life insurance proceeds paid to the beneficiary as reported on SF 2823 may be claimed from the Office of FEGLI. Form FE-6, downloaded at https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/fe6.pdf, must be completed and submitted.
- Make a claim for TSP benefits. Upon the death of a TSP participant, a representative of the estate (Executor, or Trustee) needs to complete and submit Form TSP-17 (Information Relating to Deceased Participant). TSP-17 is used to provide information about potential beneficiaries of a deceased participant’s TSP account(s). If the deceased participant had multiple accounts with the TSP, the information provided on TSP-17 will be applied to each account separately. If a valid Form TSP-3 (Designation of Beneficiary), is on file with the TSP record keeper for the account, payment of the account will be made according to the designations. In that case, the information provided on Form TSP-17 may be used to update beneficiary information, for example an address, on file with the TSP record keeper.
- Other insurance benefits. If the deceased employee had dental and/or vision insurance coverage through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), and the coverage included one eligible family member (spouse or a child under the age of 22), self plus one coverage, or multiple eligible family members (self and family coverage), then coverage will continue. This is because a spousal survivor annuity is being paid and the surviving spouse should go to the Web site www.benefeds.com and find out how coverage will continue. Note that nowhere on Form 2800 or Form 3104 is anything mentioned about FEDVIP and FLTCIP.
If a surviving spouse is enrolled in the Federal Long-Term Insurance Program (FLTCIP), then the surviving spouse should go to the FLTCIP Web site at: www.ltcfeds.com and request his or her FLTCIP premiums be deducted from his or her FLTCIP premiums or be deducted from his or her survivor annuity check.
- Social Security benefits. A deceased CSRS annuitant and more likely a deceased FERS annuitant was eligible for or was receiving Social Security retirement benefits. If the deceased annuitant was receiving a Social Security check, then a family member needs to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA), at 800-772-1213 to notify SSA of the annuitant’s death and to stop issuing checks. If the deceased was fully insured (had at least 40 credits of Social Security) then the surviving spouse should contact SSA for the lump sum death benefit of $255. A surviving spouse is also entitled to survivor benefits, which is all of the deceased’s Social Security retirement benefits, starting as early as age 60. The surviving spouse can claim these widow(er) Social Security benefits even if the surviving spouse’s own Social Security benefit is more than the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefits. The surviving spouse may want to claim the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefits and delay the receipt of their own, thereby receiving a guaranteed 8 percent per year increase in benefits until age 70.