VIDEO: Railroad Retirement Survivor Benefits Part 1

Transcription:

My name is John McNamara with Highball Advisors. And today, we're going to talk about survivor benefits in your railroad retirement. Biggest issue broken down into two videos. I'm doing one this week. And then next week, I'll have another one. So subscribe to my YouTube channel, make sure you get an alert that the second video has dropped. So let's get started. And we'll get right into it. Railroad retirement pays survivor annuities if the employee has five years of service after 1995, five years of credible railroad service and has a current connection at retirement or at passing death. And what is the current connection? It's 12 months in the last 30 months of credible railroad service. So if you did, four months here, five months there, as long as it gets up to 12, and the last 30 months before retirement or passing, you're good to go. And if you're in retirement, and then you're collecting a railroad retirement annuity, you have your current connection, you're all set, you have survivor benefits. Alright, so that's how it pays the survivor annuity, who is eligible? Widows and widowers. So if you're age 60, you can claim your survivor annuity reductions apply, if you're claiming it before full retirement age. So age 60. If you're if you're 60 years old, and employees done 30 years of service, we all know that full retirement age. This is specifically relating to individuals who are under full retirement age, we know full retirement age is going to 67. So there would be a reduction if you claim that at 60 and your full retirement employees for retirement age was 67 it would be reduction. Also important remember, divorced widows and widowers can also claim a survivor annuity. You would have to have been married for 10 years and currently unmarried, to get the survivor annuity. All right, also age between age 50 and 59, they can claim survivor annuity, if they become disabled, within seven years of the employee passing, there is a five month waiting period. So very important to plan to cover those expenses for the five months because you will have to wait that long to get it. Then you have any age. So if the widow were is caring for a child, under the age of 18, there's no age requirement, because you're taking care of a child. Or if you're taking care of a disabled child under the age of 22, you can also acquire. So you have to be married for nine months before you can get the survivor benefit. That's assuming it's if you had an accident, you don't have to wait nine months you're on medically qualified. Or if the employee has passed and service to the country in the military, there's no wait. You claim survivor benefits right away. So let's look at the other categories. Who else is able to get survivor annuity the benefits? Children under the age 18 or even up to 19 if they're still going to high school, unmarried, of course, are able to still get survivor annuity benefits. And married disabled children under the age of 22. If they become disabled under the age of 22, they are able to get survivor benefits, unmarried dependent grandchildren if you taken care of your grandchildren because their parents are either both disabled or have passed away. They're able to get survivor annuity benefits and parents age 60. So if you're taking care of one of your parents, who's over the age of 60, and half of their income comes from your support, they would be able to get it survivor annuity benefit. So I hope you found this helpful to part one, like I said, who is eligible and the requirements to get a survivor annuity. I'll be doing Part Two next week. And we'll talk about payouts and other issues that are associated with survivor annuity and I hope you found this very helpful. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel so you won't be missing any of these videos. In the meantime, stay safe. stay on track. Take care. Bye.

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Disclaimer: This article is provided for general information and illustration purposes only. Nothing contained in the material constitutes tax advice, a recommendation for purchase or sale of any security, or investment advisory services. Highball Advisors encourages you to consult a financial planner, accountant, and/or legal counsel for advice specific to your situation. Reproduction of this material is prohibited without written permission from Highball Advisors, and all rights are reserved.