Every benefit here is controlled by its own form, not by your will and not by a court order. If you read only one section, make it the forms — and then go and check what yours actually say.
I If you die in service
Several benefits can be payable at once, under different rules.
| Benefit | Requires | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Employee Death Benefit | 18 months creditable civilian service | 50% of final basic pay or high-3, whichever is higher, plus an indexed fixed amount |
| Survivor annuity | 10 years of service | 50% of the unreduced annuity you would have earned |
| FEGLI | Coverage in force | To the named beneficiary, tax-free |
| TSP balance | — | To the TSP-3 beneficiary |
The Basic Employee Death Benefit also carries a marriage requirement: generally an aggregate of at least nine months, waived where the death was accidental or where the spouse is the parent of a child born of the marriage.
The BEDB's fixed component is indexed annually — it began at $15,000 and has been adjusted by CSRS cost-of-living increases since December 1987. For deaths on or after 1 December 2024 it was $42,607.52. Because it moves every year, treat any published figure as dated and confirm the current amount with OPM rather than planning against a number you read somewhere.
If nobody is eligible for a survivor annuity, survivors receive a refund of the employee's FERS contributions plus interest, paid to the designated beneficiary — or, absent one, by order of precedence.
II The survivor election at retirement
At retirement you choose what your spouse receives after your death, and you pay for it with a permanent reduction to your own annuity.
| Election | Spouse receives | Your annuity is reduced by |
|---|---|---|
| Full (FERS) | 50% of your annuity, for life | 10% |
| Partial (FERS) | 25% of your annuity, for life | 5% |
| None | Nothing | Nothing |
| Maximum under CSRS | Up to 55% | Varies |
On a $50,000 annuity the full election costs $5,000 a year and pays your spouse $22,500 a year for the rest of their life. Whether that is worth it looks like an actuarial question. It is not, because of the next section.
III The FEHB link
A surviving spouse cannot continue FEHB coverage unless they are receiving a survivor annuity.
That single rule reframes the whole decision. Declining the survivor annuity does not just remove pension income from your spouse's future — it removes their access to federal health insurance permanently, at exactly the age when replacing it privately is most expensive and hardest to obtain.
You may be shown a strategy that declines the survivor annuity and replaces it with a private life insurance policy, on the arithmetic that the premium costs less than the 10 percent reduction. Whatever the merits of the arithmetic, a life insurance policy does not restore FEHB eligibility. If someone presents that trade without addressing health coverage, that omission is the thing to ask about. See FEHB plan selection.
IV Survivor Election Calculator
What each election costs you, what it pays your spouse, and the break-even in years.
What Does the Election Actually Buy?
Estimates only, in current dollars. COLAs, taxes and the value of FEHB continuation are not modelled.
V What FEGLI pays
FEGLI is a separate benefit from the survivor annuity and does not substitute for it. One pays a lump sum once; the other pays monthly income for life.
| Coverage | Pays |
|---|---|
| Basic | Annual basic pay rounded up to the next $1,000, plus $2,000 |
| Option A | $10,000 |
| Option B | 1 to 5 times your annual basic pay |
| Option C | $5,000 per multiple for a spouse; $2,500 per multiple per child |
Two details that change the picture. Accidental Death and Dismemberment doubles the Basic payout for active employees in accidents only — it does not apply to Option B or C, and never to retirees. And Basic coverage reduces after age 65 unless you elect and pay to keep it, so the retiree who assumes FEGLI will carry their family may find the benefit has quietly shrunk. See is FEGLI worth it.
VI The forms that actually control it
This is the section to act on. Each benefit is governed by its own designation — not by your will, and not by a court order.
| Benefit | Controlled by |
|---|---|
| FERS or CSRS lump sum | SF 3102 |
| FEGLI | SF 2823 |
| TSP balance | TSP-3, filed through your TSP account |
Where no beneficiary is named, the TSP pays by a statutory order of precedence: spouse, then children, then parents, then the executor of the estate, then next of kin.
It is the most common and most expensive mistake on these forms. Naming the estate rather than a person sends the proceeds through probate — delaying payment by months or years and exposing the money to creditors of the estate. Name natural persons. The whole point of a death benefit is that it arrives quickly and outside the estate.
VII Divorce, and the decree that does nothing
A divorce decree does not change your TSP-3 beneficiary.
If you named your spouse before the divorce and never filed a new designation, your entire TSP balance can pass to your former spouse on your death regardless of what the decree says. The same logic applies to your FEGLI designation.
Updating every beneficiary form belongs in the same week as the divorce. Not eventually — that week.
Separately, a court order can award a former spouse survivor annuity. Where one exists it generally ends if the former spouse remarries before age 55, unless the marriage lasted 30 years or more. If you are divorced and unsure what your decree provides, that is worth establishing now rather than leaving to your survivors. See life events and benefit changes.
VIII What children receive
Less than most people assume, and the gap is worth planning around.
There is no FERS or CSRS survivor annuity for adult children who are not disabled. Minor children may be eligible for a children's annuity, which typically interacts with Social Security survivor benefits.
FEHB does not continue for adult children beyond Temporary Continuation of Coverage, which runs up to 36 months at 102 percent of the full premium — a bridge, not a benefit.
For adult children the practical tools are your TSP-3 designation, FEGLI, and private life insurance. If providing for an adult child matters to you, it happens on those forms and nowhere else.
IX The playbook
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Approaching retirement, married | Establish whether your spouse needs FEHB. That usually settles the election. |
| Offered a “pension max” strategy | Ask how it replaces FEHB eligibility. Life insurance does not. |
| Married under nine months | The BEDB marriage requirement may not be met. Know it now. |
| Just divorced | Update TSP-3 and SF 2823 this week. The decree changes neither. |
| Just married or had a child | Update every designation form, not just the ones you remember. |
| Named your estate anywhere | Change it to a person. Probate delays and exposes the money. |
| Relying on FEGLI to provide | Basic reduces after 65 unless you pay to keep it. |
| Adult child to provide for | No survivor annuity exists. Use TSP-3, FEGLI or private cover. |
| Never filed a designation | Order of precedence applies — which may not be who you would choose. |
| Any year | Pull all three forms and read what they actually say. |
Do these this month
- Pull your current TSP-3, SF 2823 and SF 3102 and read the named beneficiaries.
- Confirm no form names your estate.
- Confirm every form reflects your current marriage, divorce and children.
- Work out whether your spouse would need FEHB after your death.
- Model the survivor election against that answer, not against the premium alone.
- Check whether your marriage meets the nine-month BEDB requirement.
- Confirm which FEGLI options you actually carry and what they pay.
- Check what happens to your Basic FEGLI after age 65.
- If divorced, establish what any court order provides for a former spouse.
- Tell your spouse where these forms are and what they say.
Frequently asked questions
Several benefits may be payable at once. The Basic Employee Death Benefit is a lump sum to a surviving spouse where the employee had at least 18 months of creditable civilian service, equal to 50 percent of final basic pay or the high-3 average if higher, plus a fixed amount that is indexed each year. Separately, if the employee had at least 10 years of service the spouse may receive a survivor annuity of 50 percent of the unreduced benefit the employee would have earned. FEGLI proceeds and the TSP balance pass to whoever is named on the relevant designation.
For the Basic Employee Death Benefit the spouse must generally have been married to the employee for an aggregate of at least nine months. That requirement is waived where the death was accidental, or where the spouse is the parent of a child born of the marriage. The nine-month rule catches people who marry late in a career, and it is worth knowing about in advance rather than discovering afterwards, because nothing can be done about it at the point it matters.
Under FERS a full survivor annuity pays your spouse 50 percent of your pension for life and costs a 10 percent reduction in your own annuity. A partial election pays 25 percent and costs a 5 percent reduction. Under CSRS the maximum is 55 percent. The reduction is permanent and it applies from the day your annuity starts, which is why the election is often framed as a cost — but the framing is misleading, because of what else the election controls.
Because a surviving spouse cannot continue FEHB coverage unless they are receiving a survivor annuity. This is the single most consequential fact in federal survivor planning and it is routinely missed. If you decline the survivor annuity to keep a larger pension, you are not merely leaving your spouse without pension income after your death — you are also ending their eligibility for federal health coverage for the rest of their life. The two benefits are linked, and the link runs one way only.
No. Each of these benefits is controlled by its own designation form rather than by your will. The TSP is governed by your TSP-3 designation, FEGLI by the SF 2823, and FERS or CSRS lump sums by the SF 3102. If no beneficiary is named, the TSP pays according to a statutory order of precedence: spouse, then children, then parents, then the executor of the estate, then next of kin. A will that says something different does not change any of it.
Nothing, unless you change them, and this is where real harm happens. A divorce decree does not change your TSP-3 beneficiary. If you named your spouse before the divorce and never filed a new designation, your entire TSP balance can pass to your former spouse on your death regardless of what the decree says. The same logic applies to your FEGLI designation. Updating every beneficiary form should happen in the same week as the divorce, not eventually.
It is one of the most common and most costly mistakes. Naming the estate rather than a person sends the proceeds through probate, which delays payment by months and sometimes years, and exposes the money to creditors of the estate. Naming natural persons keeps the payment outside probate and gets it to your family quickly, which is the entire point of a death benefit. Name people, even if you also have a will.
Less than most people assume. There is no FERS or CSRS survivor annuity for adult children who are not disabled. Minor children may be eligible for a children's annuity, and Social Security survivor benefits often interact with it. FEHB coverage does not continue for adult children beyond the limited Temporary Continuation of Coverage option, which runs for up to 36 months at 102 percent of the full premium. For adult children the practical tools are your TSP-3 designation, FEGLI, and private life insurance.