Survivor Pension

If you die as a retiree, your pension plan provides coverage for your surviving spouse and/or eligible children under age 18.

Eligible recipients

• Your surviving spouse. (Your surviving spouse is the person to whom you're legally married at the time of your death.)
• If you do not have a surviving spouse, or your surviving spouse dies, your eligible children under age 18 will receive full survivor benefits divided equally between them. The survivor benefit will stop on their 18th birthdays and be divided equally between any other children under age 18. This recalculation continues until the youngest reaches age 18.

Calculation

Your surviving spouse and/or eligible children under age 18 will receive the same pension and insurance coverage you were receiving. Create and save up to four personalized pension estimates by using miAccount, or check out the survivor option lookup tool to see the factors used in the calculation.

Employees hired after July 1, 2006, will choose from survivor options that are actuarially reduced based on the survivor's age. 

Conditions

You have to be receiving a disability pension or a full retirement pension based on 25 or more years of service for your surviving spouse and/or minor children to be eligible for coverage.

Note: If you are a deferred member and die before age 50, your spouse may be eligible for your pension beginning the month after you would have reached age 50. See Nonduty Preretirement Survivor Pension.

To apply

If you are a surviving spouse or dependent child of a deceased retiree, contact ORS as soon after the retiree's death as possible. You will need to mail the deceased's social security number and a certified copy of the death certificate.