§2052 Death in Service

Summary

If an employee dies and no regular annuity is due, their lump-sum account and any voluntary contributions with interest must be paid to people in the order the law sets. If the employee dies while still working and leaves a spouse or a qualifying former spouse, the spouse gets a survivor annuity equal to 55% of a calculated annuity, and a qualifying former spouse gets an annuity calculated as if the employee had already been entitled to retire. The survivor annuity starts the day after death and stops the last day of the month before the survivor dies or remarries if remarriage happens before age 55. The annuity calculation must be at least the smaller of (A) 40% of the employee’s "high-3" average pay (the average of their highest three years of pay) or (B) the amount you get when you add extra years of service equal to (age at death minus 60). Other legal limits or replacement rules may apply. If the employee left child(ren), each child may get a small annuity. For deaths before April 1, 1992, the child’s amount depends on whether a spouse survives. For deaths on or after April 1, 1992, the child’s amount depends on whether a surviving spouse or former spouse is the child’s natural or adoptive parent. For these rules, "former spouse" means any ex‑husband or ex‑wife, no matter how long they were married.