Retiring members of the Uniformed Retirement System (Normal, Early Service, Deferred Vested, or any type of Disability) may elect a Joint and Last Survivor Option, which entitles the surviving spouse to receive all or a percentage (50%, 66 2/3%, 75% or 100%) of their base retirement benefit (not including the Pre-62 supplement or the Pre-Social Security Benefit) after their death. If the Joint and Last Survivor Option is elected, the retiree's benefit will be reduced. The amount of reduction depends on the difference in age between the retiree and his or her spouse (see chart below). A partial year is not considered a difference in age.

If the spouse should pre-decease the retiree (or in the case of divorce where the benefit is extinguished), the retiree's benefit will be increased to what it would have been if no option had been elected.

A member who elects a Joint and Last Survivor Option at retirement is required to provide notice and proof of his or her spouse’s death before the Retirement System will increase the amount of his or her retirement allowance to what he or she would have received in the absence of his or her earlier election of a Joint and Last Survivor Option for the spouse.

_U029