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Get SBP decision right the first time

March 8, 2013 • J.J. Montanaro

Q: I unwit­tingly did not elect to have my hus­band cov­ered for Sur­vivor Ben­e­fits when I retired from the Army in 1995, but for my child. I was advised to ask for help from my Con­gress­man, to pos­si­bly get my SBP elec­tion changed to include my hus­band. Should I do this and is this the right per­son to ask for help in ref­er­ence to this sit­u­a­tion? Also, does this mean if I died, my hus­band will not have access to TRICARE, ID card and other mil­i­tary priv­i­leges?  Please help. Thank you.

–Char­lene, Beau­fort, South Carolina

A: I guess your rep­re­sen­ta­tive is as good a place as any to go for help on this issue. Unfor­tu­nately, the law is pretty clear and I don’t hold out a lot of hope that you’ll get any results. Over the years, I’ve been a fan of the Sur­vivor Ben­e­fit Plan and still think that for most folks retir­ing from the mil­i­tary SBP deserves seri­ous consideration.

As you know, you sign up for the pro­gram before retire­ment. Unfor­tu­nately, other than an oppor­tu­nity to dis­con­tinue cov­er­age dur­ing the third year of your retire­ment, you aren’t able to change your elec­tion unless there is a major change in the pro­gram that results in an open sea­son. The last time this hap­pened was back in 2005 when the Social Secu­rity Off­set (reduc­tion of sur­vivor ben­e­fits from 55% to 35% at age 62) was elim­i­nated. Also, if you were not mar­ried at retire­ment (and thus did not elect SBP) and then got mar­ried after retire­ment you could sign up for cov­er­age within one year of the marriage.

I may have some bet­ter news in answer­ing the sec­ond part of your ques­tion. If some­thing hap­pens to you, your husband’s access to mil­i­tary ben­e­fits includ­ing TRICARE, instal­la­tion facil­i­ties, com­mis­sary and exchange are gov­erned by the 20–20-20 rule:

 

  • The mar­riage must have lasted at least 20 years.
  • The ser­vice­mem­ber must have had at least 20 years of ser­vice cred­itable towards retirement.
  • The mar­riage and cred­itable ser­vice must over­lap for at least 20 years

If he meets these require­ments, he’ll be eli­gi­ble for mil­i­tary ben­e­fits, even if he’s not eli­gi­ble for SBP pay­ments.  Good luck and let me know if you’re able to get any­thing done on this front.

 

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9 responses to “Get SBP decision right the first time”

  1. Katie L.
    March 19, 2013 at 5:18 pm |

    More good news, I think you did the right thing by NOT tak­ing SBP on your hus­band. I teach SBP to retir­ing ser­vice­mem­bers for a liv­ing and I usu­ally tell women to con­sider the fact that sta­tis­tics say we will out­live men by at least 5 years. Since this is a death ben­e­fit, you’d have to die FIRST for him to receive the ben­e­fit and that is an unlikely sce­nario unless he is sig­nif­i­cantly younger or health­ier than you. If you really think you need to plan for him to receive a finan­cial ben­e­fit upon your death, con­sider life insur­ance. You could name your child as an alter­nate ben­e­fi­ciary on the pol­icy in the even that he dies first. I hope this is helpful.

    1. David Weller
      March 21, 2013 at 7:30 pm |

      KAtie do you have any insight on Retired Reserve SBP? I retired in 2007, do not actu­ally my reserve retir­ment for another 7 years. i did not elect SBP for my wife.

      Would I elect it in the future?

      1. Katie L
        March 22, 2013 at 10:59 am |

        David, yes. With reserve com­po­nent SBP (RC SBP) you have two oppor­tu­ni­ties to enroll.1st at the 20 year mark and again at final retire­ment. I’m a lit­tle con­fused by your com­ment. Do you mean that you retired already but will not start get­ting retired pay for 7 more years? If you have not fully retired yet, you will have the chance to enroll before your retire­ment date. The form with the SBP elec­tion is DD-2656–5. To decline cov­er­age for your wife, she has to sign that form and it must be notarized.

  2. Chuck
    March 21, 2013 at 10:13 am |

    The 20–20–20 rule applies to divorce, not death.

  3. Stan
    March 22, 2013 at 10:45 am |

    l elected SBP when I remar­ried my first wife.She has mul­ti­ple med­ical prob­lems that will unfor­tu­nantly result in her demiss before me. Do my pay­ments into SBP cease? What hap­pens with the money I have paid into the pro­gram? Can I change over to a child or grand child? If so, is there a ‘buy in’ to do so? Thank you.

  4. Scott
    March 25, 2013 at 1:37 pm |

    Just to add to Chuck’s com­ment. The 20–20-20 rule does NOT apply to sur­vivors, only divorces. When a mil­i­tary retiree dies, the legal spouse con­tin­ues full ben­e­fits and enti­tle­ments for life, or if they remarry. If the sec­ond mar­riage ends in death or divorce, the ben­e­fits can be restored, minus the Tri­care heath­care benefit.

  5. RAYMOND ARIAS
    March 26, 2013 at 2:13 am |
  6. Cynthia
    March 26, 2013 at 11:43 am |

    My father did not set up SBP for my mother and he is now in his 80’s should he pass is it true she will not be enti­tle to receive his mil­i­tary pay? Will she lose her Tri­care for Life

    1. guest
      March 27, 2013 at 8:50 am |

      It is true that the pen­sion pay­ments stop the day of his death, she will main­tain TFL unless she remarries.

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