CSRS Lump Sum Death Benefit: What Survivors Receive

What the CSRS Lump Sum Covers

When a CSRS retiree dies, OPM pays a lump sum representing the unexpended balance of the retiree's retirement contributions — the portion of the employee's payroll deductions that hasn't been returned through annuity payments. If the retiree collected annuity payments long enough to recover the full contribution amount, the unexpended balance is zero and no lump sum is payable.

This is separate from the ongoing monthly survivor annuity (up to 55% of the unreduced annuity). The lump sum is a one-time payment; the survivor annuity continues monthly for the spouse's lifetime.

OPM also pays the accrued unpaid annuity — the prorated pension earned from the first of the month through the date of death, after Treasury reclaims any full post-death monthly deposit.

Who Receives the Lump Sum

If the retiree filed a Designation of Beneficiary (SF 2808) with OPM, the lump sum goes to the named beneficiary. If no designation is on file, OPM pays according to the statutory order of precedence:

1. Surviving spouse
2. Children (in equal shares)
3. Parents (in equal shares)
4. The executor or administrator of the estate
5. Next of kin under the laws of the retiree's state of domicile

The order of precedence skips any category where no eligible person exists and moves to the next.

How It Differs from FERS

FERS has its own lump sum — the Basic Employee Death Benefit (BEDB) — which is a statutory flat amount plus a portion tied to the employee's final salary. The BEDB applies primarily when a current federal employee dies in service, not a retiree. For a deceased FERS retiree, the lump-sum payment works similarly to CSRS: it's the unexpended retirement contributions, and it's often zero or very small if the retiree collected the annuity for many years.

Both systems pay the accrued unpaid annuity through SF 2800 (CSRS) or SF 3104 (FERS).

How to Claim It

The surviving spouse or beneficiary files SF 2800 (Application for Death Benefits — CSRS) with OPM's Survivor Processing Section. The lump sum claim is part of the same application that establishes the monthly survivor annuity — there's no separate form.

Required attachments:

• Certified death certificate with raised seal
• Certified marriage certificate (for spousal claims)
• The retiree's CSA claim number

OPM processes the claim in roughly 60 to 90 days and issues interim payments during that window.

The Federal Retiree Death Benefits Guide explains how the lump sum, the accrued unpaid annuity, and the monthly survivor annuity all fit together — with worked dollar examples and a tax basis recovery worksheet for IRS Publication 721.

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