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SBP - it's good news

June 2, 2009 • June Walbert

 Q:  My husband is retired. We were married after he retired from the military. I did sign up to receive survivor benefits and have been making the payments for eight years.  My husband and I have thought of getting a larger life Insurance policy and cancelling my survivor benefits.  Can we do that?  How do you cancel your Survivor Benefits?  I cannot find this information on any web site.

 

-Kellie, Palm Coast, Fla.

 

A:  What do you want first, the good news or, well, the bad?  Let’s get (what you will consider) the bad news out of the way first:  You’re probably stuck with SBP.  There is a window between the 25-36th month following receipt of retired pay to terminate the coverage, otherwise the decision is permanent (barring a death or divorce).  The government has rules, you know.  Personally, I really don’t think that’s bad news!  I believe SBP is the deal of the century.  And a great benefit of military service.  It’s a cost effective way to ensure you have a reliable income stream should something happen to your husband.  From a cost perspective, it’s hard to beat.  Paid for with pre-tax money, it provides a cost-of-living-adjusted lifetime benefit.  It’s hard to duplicate – even with life insurance.  Rather than cancelling SBP, I’d suggest that you visit the VA website or usaa.com and use a life insurance calculator to determine if you need to supplement your SBP with a commercial life insurance policy.


 

 

 

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Comments

Just want to say thank you for having something in the maze about a spouse of a living retired military person! Since becoming a spouse of a retired officer, I have found no support for spouses of living retirees. Seems you have to be a survivor!

Posted by: Julie Pond | June 14, 2009 at 09:06 PM

My husband retired in 1986. He died in 2003. He had been paying into SBP that entire time. I was not given the option of receiving SBP payments. I had to sign up for the DIC program. I was bought out. I am losing hundreds of dollars a month because of this.

Posted by: Marilynn Wilson | June 09, 2009 at 09:45 PM

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