Entitlement to Reinstatement of Survivor Benefit Plan Annuity

GAO was asked whether a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) beneficiary, whose annuity was terminated as a result of a subsequent marriage, was entitled to have her SBP annuity reinstated effective on the date her subsequent marriage was decreed annulled, or as of the time the annuity was initially discontinued. The applicable law states that an annuity for a widow shall be paid to the widow while the widow is living, or, if the widow remarries before age 60, until the widow remarries. In this case, the beneficiary remarried prior to reaching age 60. The annuity is resumed if the subsequent marriage is terminated by death, annulment, or divorce. The question was whether the legal significance of an annulment operates to void the marriage from its inception, for the purposes of the SBP. The law specifically provides for the reinstatement of the annuity payments on the first day of the month in which the marriage is terminated. Therefore, the beneficiary was entitled to have her SBP annuity reinstated on the first day of the month in which her remarriage was decreed annulled.