Basic Employee Death Benefit: Eligibility, Payout, and Filing

The basic employee death benefit is a one-time payment to the surviving spouse of a federal worker who dies while covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System with at least 18 months of creditable civilian service. For deaths on or after December 1, 2025, it equals 50% of the employee’s final annual salary (or 50% of the highest three-year average, if that figure is larger) plus a fixed amount of $43,800.53.¹ The surviving spouse can take the money as a lump sum or spread it over 36 monthly installments.

How Much It Pays

The benefit has two parts. The percentage component is 50% of the employee’s final annual rate of basic pay, or 50% of the high-3 average pay if that number is greater.² The high-3 is the average basic pay over the three consecutive years when earnings were highest, which for most employees is the last three years before death. Basic pay covers regular salary and locality pay but generally excludes overtime, bonuses, and most premium pay.

The fixed portion started at $15,000 when the law was enacted and grows each year using the cost-of-living adjustments applied to Civil Service Retirement System annuities.³ As of December 2025, it stands at $43,800.53.¹

An example. A FERS employee earning $90,000 at death with a high-3 average of $85,000 produces a benefit calculated on the higher figure, $90,000. Half that is $45,000. Add the fixed portion of $43,800.53 and the surviving spouse receives about $88,801. If the high-3 had instead been $95,000, the formula would have used that number.

Lump Sum or 36 Monthly Installments

The surviving spouse chooses between taking the whole benefit at once or receiving it in equal monthly payments over three years. Installments include an interest component so that the total present value matches the lump sum.² The choice has real tax consequences, discussed below.

Who Qualifies

Two conditions apply. The deceased employee must have completed at least 18 months of creditable civilian service under FERS.² And the claimant must qualify as a widow or widower, which generally means having been married to the employee for at least nine months immediately before the death.⁴

Two exceptions cancel the nine-month requirement:

If There’s No Surviving Spouse

Without a qualifying spouse, the lump-sum portion follows a statutory order of precedence:⁵

A beneficiary the employee designated in a signed, witnessed writing filed with OPM before death.
The surviving spouse.
The employee’s children, including adopted children but not stepchildren, with descendants of a deceased child taking that child’s share.
The employee’s surviving parents.
The executor or administrator of the estate.
Next of kin under the laws of the employee’s home state.

Payment to anyone in a higher tier cuts off every lower tier. A beneficiary designation buried in a will has no effect here. If a federal employee wants someone other than a spouse to receive the benefit, the designation form has to be on file with OPM before death.

Former Spouse Claims

A former spouse can receive part or all of the survivor benefit that would otherwise go to a current spouse, but only through a divorce decree, annulment, or court-approved property settlement that expressly awards a share of FERS survivor benefits. The order has to be on file with OPM before the employee dies for payment to move promptly. A former spouse who remarries before age 55 loses eligibility, and modifications to the court order made after the employee retires or dies cannot change the former spouse’s share.⁶ The time to address these benefits is during the divorce, not after.

How It Differs From the Monthly Survivor Annuity

These are two separate benefits, and a qualifying spouse can receive both. The basic employee death benefit is the one-time payment described above, triggered by 18 months of creditable civilian service.² The FERS monthly survivor annuity is an ongoing lifetime payment (ending on remarriage before age 55) that requires at least 10 years of creditable service, including 18 months of civilian service.¹ The monthly annuity equals 50% of what the employee would have earned at retirement.

The distinction matters most when service is short. An employee with three years on the job triggers the one-time benefit but not the lifetime monthly annuity, so the family should not expect ongoing payments in that situation.

Children’s Benefits

Surviving children of a FERS employee with at least 18 months of creditable civilian service may qualify for a monthly annuity of their own, separate from any spousal benefit.⁷ Eligible children are unmarried dependents under 18, unmarried dependents ages 18 to 22 in full-time attendance at an accredited school, and unmarried disabled dependents over 18 whose disability began before age 18.⁸

One caution. The FERS children’s annuity is reduced dollar for dollar by any Social Security survivor benefits the children receive based on the same parent’s earnings, and Social Security payments are often large enough to zero out the FERS amount entirely.⁸ File anyway, but don’t count on it as a separate income stream.

Taxes on the Benefit

Some of the basic employee death benefit is taxable. The exact treatment depends on whether the surviving spouse takes a lump sum or installments, and whether the family is also receiving the FERS monthly survivor annuity.⁹

Lump Sum

If no FERS survivor annuity is paid, the tax-free portion of the lump sum equals the employee’s total FERS retirement contributions, and anything above that is taxable. If a survivor annuity is also paid, the entire lump sum is taxable, because the employee’s contributions are allocated to the ongoing annuity instead.⁹

36-Month Installments

Part of each installment is tax-free. Without a survivor annuity, divide the employee’s total FERS contributions by 36. With a survivor annuity, the contributions must first be split between the two benefits based on their relative expected returns, then the share assigned to the three-year benefit is divided by 36.⁹ This calculation gets complicated, and a tax professional familiar with federal retirement is worth the call.

Installments spread the tax across three years; the lump sum concentrates it in one. When a survivor annuity is also being paid and the lump sum becomes fully taxable, installments often come out ahead.

How to File

The employing agency typically notifies OPM of the death, and OPM then mails a packet to the survivors that includes the Application for Death Benefits (Standard Form 3104).⁸ If the packet doesn’t arrive, contact the employing agency directly. Standard Form 3104B is the documentation checklist OPM uses to verify supporting evidence.¹⁰

You will need:

A certified death certificate issued by a local registrar or authorized government official.¹⁰
A marriage certificate for the surviving spouse. If the marriage lasted less than nine months, proof that a child was born of the marriage or that the death was accidental.¹⁰
The employee’s Social Security number, date of birth, and dates of federal service.

Mail completed forms and documents to the OPM Retirement Operations Center at P.O. Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017. OPM does not accept these forms electronically. After the claim arrives, expect an acknowledgment letter with a claim number beginning “CSA” or “CSF” for all follow-up.¹¹ Any requests for additional information come by mail, so watch the mailbox during the review period.

Filing Deadline

Federal regulations allow survivors up to 30 years from the date of the employee’s death to file for benefits.¹² Waiting isn’t wise. Filing quickly means payments start sooner, records and agency contacts remain accessible, and life changes that could complicate the claim have less time to accumulate.

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FERS Information – Survivors
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8442 – Rights of a Widow or Widower
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8462 – Cost-of-Living Adjustments
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC Chapter 84 – Federal Employees Retirement System
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8424 – Lump-Sum Benefits; Designation of Beneficiary; Order of Precedence
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8445 – Rights of a Former Spouse
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8443 – Rights of a Child
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Survivor Benefits
9
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 721 – Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits
10
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. SF 3104B – Documentation and Requirements for Death Benefits
11
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Contact OPM Retirement Services
12
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 843 – Federal Employees Retirement System Death Benefits and Employee Refunds