Dear MarketWatch,
My husband and I were married for 10 months before he passed away. But we were together for eight years. He had a very healthy pension, probably about $8,000 a month. We called to find out what the rules were for the spouse getting the pension after his death and were told it was only a nine-month requirement.
That was quite a few years before he passed away. Once he passed, I filed for his pension. I was sent $1,800 a month, and told that was all I was getting because we did not pay into the pension fund so I was not eligible. At no time did they ever tell us that we had to pay into it and we did not know. Do I have any legal claim to that pension?
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Left Short
Dear Left Short,
I’m very sorry you are receiving so much less than what you expected to receive. That’s a terrible surprise during an already upsetting time in your life.
Unfortunately, this is an area where mistakes can easily be made, said David Haas, a certified financial planner and president of Cereus Financial Advisors.
“You have to choose up front when you start taking the pension what the survivor’s benefit is,” he said, and that varies by the company. Pensions are basically annuities, and as such, they follow actuarial calculations with life expectancies in mind.
For example, if your husband had the option for a 100% joint payout and he chose that, he’d have gotten the lowest amount in payments at first, but those payments would have continued as-is after his death.
A 50% joint payment would result in the surviving spouse getting a 50% cut to the payment after the first spouse’s death (but the payment would have been higher while both individuals were still alive).
Comparatively, a 0% joint payout would mean getting the highest amount of money while the employee spouse is alive, but then having all payments cease upon his or her death, Haas explained.
Related: Should you share your pension payout with your spouse, even if it means less money?
Pensions also vary considerably based on the employer who provides them, or if they are private versus public. The rest of the responsibility lies on the employee, who must decide how they receive their pension, or the way in which they structure their benefit for their spouse.
“If you want more benefits for survivors, you will have to pay more into it upfront, while alive,” said Emmanuel Eliason, a certified financial planner and president of Eliason Wealth Management.
“For example, for federal employees, their pension stipulates that they can choose either a partial survival benefit at 25% costing 5% of their pension, full survival benefit at 50% costing 10% of their pension or choose no survival benefit, hence no cost.
For other retirees whose companies offer pensions with survival benefits, it’s important for them to be properly educated, to understand their options, cost and benefits available in their plans.”
When it comes to pensions, planning is crucial, which makes your situation especially frustrating as you and your husband did make calls years ago to understand how it works. The company may not change anything about your payments, but it is still important that you have the clarity you need.
“I cannot imagine that the pension company would do anything different than what she is getting now,” said Jeremy Keil, a certified financial planner at Keil Financial Partners. Still, call the pension company and ask for a copy of the original paperwork, he added. “Perhaps there is a small chance she can find an error.”
Just so you know, pension decisions are often a one-time deal, and in some cases, they can’t be altered no matter what major life event occurs, Keil said. “The survivorship option is the most important decision when you take your pension,” he said. “It’s basically a one-and-done lifetime decision. You generally can’t change the option, or change the beneficiary even in the case of a divorce.”
If you felt that you weren’t told accurate or full details about your husband’s pension payout options, you may be able to file a complaint, said Melissa Caro, a certified financial planner and founder of the newsletter My Retirement Network. “If she believes there was a lack of communication or transparency about the pension plan’s terms, she might consider filing a complaint with the relevant regulatory body.”
A few places to look into this include the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or perhaps your state’s comptroller’s office.
Whatever the outcome, now is the best time to get ahead of your future retirement plans. If you expect to have more income to rely on in your older age, make sure you can still pay the bills. If you haven’t started taking Social Security yet, look at what your options are at various claiming ages (such as before, at or after Full Retirement Age). You can do that on the Social Security Administration’s website by creating an account.
Review all of your finances, including your assets and debts, and see how you can take distributions from any retirement accounts or savings so that the money is able to stretch over your lifetime. A qualified and trustworthy financial planner can help you with that. These aren’t necessarily quick math exercises you can do, but they’ll make all the difference when you’re older.
