Annuitants: Did You Know?

We recognize that the laws and regulations governing military annuity pay are complex and can be difficult to understand. In each issue of the DFAS Survivor SBP Newsletter, we will share a few helpful tips and tidbits for survivors.

Survivor Benefit Plan Coverage

• Did You Know: There is only one SBP annuity? It is paid either to the spouse or to the child/children. If paid to the children, the annuity is split into equal shares.

• Did You Know: The Optional Child Annuity is not an additional annuity payment? It is the option to pay the SBP annuity to the child/children instead of to the surviving spouse.

• Did You Know: Spouse and child coverage means the spouse receives the annuity unless the spouse passes away or marries prior to age 55. Only then does the eligible child (or children) receive the annuity payment.

• Did You Know: If the surviving spouse becomes ineligible, we need a new SBP   application package for the child or children, including a new DD 2656-7 - Verification for Survivors Annuity.

School Certifications

• Did You Know: High school and college students 18 and over do not need to maintain a minimum grade point average to remain annuity-eligible. The only criteria is that they remain unmarried and enrolled in school full-time.

• Did You Know: For high school and college students turning 18 and over 18, we can now use your completed, annual DD 2788 School Certification form as your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) instead of sending you a separate COE to submit each year.

• Did You Know: As stated in the “Turning 18” article, Retired and Annuity Pay is now accepting Turning 18 Letters to ensure payments do not stop direct deposits. Please check out the Turning 18 article for more information.

Multiple Child Annuitants

• Did You Know: When there is more than one eligible child annuitant, the annuity payment is split into equal shares? If one of the children becomes ineligible (due to marriage or not attending school full-time), their share is redistributed to the other children, but only if the child’s ineligibility is documented with DFAS. If we do not receive documentation of the child’s ineligibility, their share will be held until the child is proven eligible or ineligible.

Direct Deposit

Did You Know: If you are currently receiving a paper check, you can easily start to receive your pay conveniently direct deposited by using myPay, sending us a completed direct deposit form, or calling our Customer Care Center.