Question:
Do widows (and widowers) have any protection if the spouse who earned
the pension dies?
Answer:
If your spouse retired after 1984, you are presumed to be legally entitled
to a survivor pension option upon your spouse’s retirement. If your
spouse died before retirement, you should be eligible for a pre-retirement
survivor annuity. If the retirement or death occurred prior to 1984,
you may still be entitled to benefits, depending on the individual plan
provisions.
Question:
What happens to a worker’s pension in a divorce?
Answer:
All assets including pension plans should be disclosed and divided in
the divorce, but it was not uncommon before 1985 for the pension benefits
to be overlooked. Since 1985, Michigan law requires that the pension
benefit is addressed in the divorce judgment. Sometimes a divorce can
be reopened to divide pensions accumulated during marriage if the divorce
decree did not divide it previously.
Question:
Who do I call if I need help with retirement benefits for me or my spouse?
Answer:
Contact the Michigan Pension Rights Project at 1-800-7737.
Note: The Women's Institute for a Secure
Retirement (WISER) at www.wiser.heinz.org
is an excellent source of information on pension issues that especially
involve women. WISER is located at 1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite
619, Washington, DC 20004, or contact them by e-mail at info@wiserwomen.org.
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