You and your family may experience life events that affect your SERS retirement account. Events such as marriage, birth or adoption of a child, divorce, and death should be reported to SERS in order to make necessary adjustments to your account.
Create or access your account anytime to manage your retirement information in one place.
A $1,000 lump-sum death benefit is paid to your designated beneficiary upon your death. If you have multiple beneficiaries, the benefit will be distributed equally among them.
By law, if you do not designate a beneficiary, payment is made according to statutory entitlement.
If you die early in retirement before receiving the employee contributions you made while working, your remaining employee contributions are refunded to your designated beneficiary or estate.
If you are subject to a court order requiring support payments for a spouse, former spouse, or children, the court may order SERS to withhold funds from your pension payments.
Regardless of the number of support orders, the total amount withheld cannot exceed 65% of your original payment amount.
Your pension payments may be subject to an Ohio Division of Property Order (DOPO). A DOPO requires a portion of your pension to be paid to a former spouse as part of the division of marital property.
If you selected Plan A, C, D, or F and your beneficiary dies before you, your pension will be adjusted to a Single Life Allowance (Plan A). This adjustment is called a Pop-Up.
If you selected Plan A, C, D, or F and your marriage is dissolved or annulled, your plan may be adjusted to Plan A with the written consent of your former spouse or by court order.
If you marry or remarry after retirement, you may be awarded a joint survivor option for your new spouse. This must be completed within one year of your marriage.
For more information on Pop-Up and Pop-Down features, please contact SERS.
If you selected Plan B (Single Life Allowance) at retirement and later marry or remarry, you may change your plan of payment to provide for your new spouse.
Any change must be made within one year of the date of marriage.
You must submit your plan change within one year of the date of marriage.
If you selected Plan A, C, D, or F and your beneficiary dies before you, your plan may be adjusted to Plan B (Single Life Allowance). If you selected Plan F and one or more beneficiaries dies before you, your pension will be recalculated based on the remaining beneficiaries.
Please contact SERS to discuss your options.
If a child is born or adopted after your retirement, please contact SERS to discuss the options available.
According to the National Institute on Aging, end-of-life planning may include making choices about the following:
Strategies that will increase quality of life for you and those you care for, where you wish to spend your final days, and who you want to spend that time with.
While SERS cannot advise you on specific topics related to end-of-life preparation, we can direct you to several resources that may be helpful.
