FERS Survivor Annuity Election: Full, Partial, or None?

At the moment you submit your retirement paperwork, you'll choose how much monthly income — if any — your spouse receives if you die first. This decision is largely irrevocable after the first 30 days. Most federal employees spend less than an hour on it. The difference between options can exceed $500,000 in lifetime income to your spouse.

The three options and what they cost

Under FERS, you elect a full survivor annuity, a partial survivor annuity, or no survivor annuity. The benefit and cost are both set as percentages of your unreduced basic annuity.¹

Example with a $52,000 annual FERS annuity:

• Full election: You receive $46,800/year ($3,900/month). Your spouse receives $26,000/year ($2,167/month) if you die first.
• Partial election: You receive $49,400/year ($4,117/month). Your spouse receives $13,000/year ($1,083/month) if you die first.
• No election: You receive the full $52,000/year. Your spouse receives $0/month from OPM after your death.

Both the full and partial survivor benefits are COLA-adjusted — they keep pace with inflation, the same as your own FERS pension. Over 20 years of collection, that inflation protection adds significant real value compared to a fixed life insurance payout.

The FEHB trap: losing health insurance

There's a cost to "no election" that doesn't appear on the election form itself. If you elect no survivor annuity, your surviving spouse loses eligibility to continue Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage after your death.²

FEHB continuation for a surviving spouse requires that a monthly OPM survivor annuity is payable. No annuity → no FEHB. For a spouse who retired from private employment or who relies on your FEHB plan, this means shopping for individual coverage — Medicare supplement, Medigap, or marketplace plans — at an advanced age, with no employer contribution.

The annualized cost of replacing FEHB in retirement can easily exceed $10,000–$20,000/year depending on the plan and coverage level. For many couples, FEHB protection alone justifies at least the partial election.

Break-even calculator

The question most federal employees ask is simple: am I buying insurance I'll never use, or is this a good deal? Run the numbers for your situation.

What the break-even math shows

The fundamental efficiency of the FERS survivor annuity: the annual survivor benefit (50% of annuity) is 5× larger than the annual cost (10% of annuity). That means your spouse only needs to collect benefits for 20% of the years you paid premiums to recover everything you "spent."

If you retire at 58 and live to 83 — 25 years of premiums — your spouse needs just 5 years of survivor benefits to break even. The average woman at age 68 (a typical surviving-spouse age) has a remaining life expectancy of roughly 18 years. That's 13 surplus years of net benefit.

Both the full and partial elections have the same 5:1 break-even ratio. The choice between them is about the level of income protection, not its cost efficiency.

When full election usually makes sense

• Your spouse is younger and would face many years of retirement without your income
• Your spouse has limited independent income — no federal pension, modest Social Security
• Your spouse relies on your FEHB coverage and you want to guarantee its continuation
• Your TSP balance is modest and wouldn't sustain your spouse for decades on its own
• Your spouse is in poor health and may have elevated future healthcare costs

When partial or no election might be worth considering

• Your spouse has their own FERS or CSRS pension providing substantial lifetime income
• Your spouse has their own federal employment and FEHB coverage — no coverage gap at your death
• You carry significant term life insurance that would replace survivor income for your spouse's most vulnerable years
• Your TSP balance is large and your spouse is the named beneficiary (a lump sum can supplement income, though it isn't inflation-indexed and can be spent down)
• Your spouse is older than you or in significantly worse health — survival math may shift the break-even

Your TSP beneficiary is a completely separate decision

Federal employees sometimes conflate the survivor annuity election with TSP beneficiary designation. These are two different documents, two different accounts, two different administrators.

• FERS Survivor Annuity: Governs your monthly pension income after your death. Made on your retirement application (SF-3107 for FERS). Administered by OPM.
• TSP Beneficiary Designation (Form TSP-3): Governs who inherits your TSP account balance at death. Filed directly with TSP at tsp.gov. Your spouse can roll the inherited TSP into their own TSP or IRA.

If you elect no survivor annuity and name your spouse as TSP beneficiary, your spouse receives the TSP lump sum — but no monthly OPM income, and no FEHB. These are structurally different protections: the survivor annuity is longevity insurance that can't be outlived; the TSP bequest is a finite asset that could be depleted over a long retirement.

Name your spouse (or your intended heir) as TSP beneficiary regardless of your survivor annuity election. If you've never filed a TSP-3 or haven't updated it after a life event, check it now at tsp.gov.

The irrevocability trap

You have 30 days after OPM acknowledges your retirement to change your survivor annuity election. After that window closes, changes are permitted only for specific qualifying life events:³

• Death of your spouse (cancels the election; you can stop paying the premium)
• Divorce (the election may be converted to a former-spouse election by court order)
• Remarriage (you may elect a survivor annuity for a new spouse within 2 years of remarriage)

You cannot voluntarily increase your own check by canceling a survivor benefit outside these events. Retirees who chose "partial" or "none" based on assumptions that later changed — a spouse's health, their own health, a divorce, a new marriage — have no unilateral option to reverse course.

The 30-day window during retirement processing is one of the most financially consequential decisions in a federal career. A $52,000 annuity generates $5,200/year in survivor premium; over 25 years that's $130,000 in lifetime cost to you — and potentially $600,000+ in lifetime income to your spouse. Treat the decision accordingly.

What a specialist models before you decide

A fee-only advisor who works with federal employees typically builds a 30-year projection covering:

• Lifetime income comparison: full vs. partial vs. no election across a range of survival scenarios (retiree dies at 75, 80, 85; survivor lives 10, 15, 20 years)
• FEHB replacement cost modeling: what does individual Medicare supplement or marketplace coverage actually cost in your area and health situation
• TSP-as-substitute analysis: at your spouse's spending rate, does the TSP balance realistically replace the survivor annuity stream over a 20+ year horizon?
• Social Security survivor benefit interaction: the FERS survivor annuity and SS survivor benefit are additive — modeling both shows the combined picture at various claiming ages
• FEGLI and outside life insurance: if you carry term insurance, does it bridge the gap during the years when the survivor annuity would matter most?
• Tax impact: survivor annuity is taxable income to the surviving spouse; large TSP distributions may push them into higher brackets

The election that looks right on a simple comparison often looks different after a full projection. A decision this consequential deserves a model, not a guess.

1. FERS survivor annuity election options and cost percentages (full = 50% benefit, 10% cost; partial = 25% benefit, 5% cost): OPM — Survivor Benefits; OPM — FAQ: Survivor Benefits and Retirement.
2. FEHB continuation for survivors requires a monthly survivor annuity to be payable: OPM — Can a spouse continue FEHB coverage after the enrollee dies?
3. Survivor election irrevocability and qualifying life events for changes: 5 CFR Part 842 Subpart F — Survivor Elections.
4. TSP beneficiary designation: TSP.gov — Beneficiary Distributions; spousal beneficiary rollover options per SECURE 2.0 and existing inherited-IRA rules.

Values verified as of April 2026. FERS survivor annuity percentages are statutory and not adjusted annually. FEHB continuation rules per OPM. Confirm your specific situation with OPM or a fee-only federal benefits specialist before retiring.