22 CFR § 19.11-3 - Regular survivor annuity for a spouse.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t22/s19.11-3"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "22 CFR § 19.11-3 - Regular survivor annuity for a spouse."
title_number: 22
title_name: "Foreign Relations"
section_number: "19.11-3"
section_name: "Regular survivor annuity for a spouse."
chapter_name: "DEPARTMENT OF STATE"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "PERSONNEL"
part_number: "19"
part_name: "BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES AND FORMER SPOUSES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "Secs. 206 and 801 of Foreign Service Act of 1980 (94 Stat. 2079, 2102); Sec. 4 of Act of May 26, 1949 (22 U.S.C. 2658)."
regulatory_source: "46 FR 12958, Feb. 19, 1981, unless otherwise noted. Redesignated at 46 FR 18970, Mar. 27, 1981."
cfr_part: "19"
---


# 19.11-3 Regular survivor annuity for a spouse.

(a) In the absence of a joint election or a spousal agreement to the contrary, a participant or former participant who is separated from active service on or after February 15, 1981 who is married at the commencement of his/her annuity shall provide a regular survivor annuity for a spouse under § 19.10-2 equal to the maximum amount that remains available under limitations stated in paragraph (b) of that section after allowing for any commitment of a regular survivor annuity for a former spouse who has not remarried prior to age 60 and who is alive on the date the former participant becomes eligible for an annuity.

(b) A regular survivor annuity is also payable to a surviving spouse for whom a principal elected an annuity under § 19.10-3, § 19.10-4, or § 19.11-2(c) following a marriage after comencement of his/her annuity.

(c) The amount of a regular survivor annuity equals 55 percent of the base designated for the benefit at the time the principal's annuity commenced, adjusted by the total percentage of cost-of-living increases the principal was receiving at death.

(d) A survivor annuity is payable to a surviving spouse only if that person was married to the principal at the time of his/her death or if the spouse became a former spouse under the definition in § 19.2(k).

[46 FR 12958, Feb. 19, 1981. Redesignated and amended at 46 FR 18970, Mar. 27, 1981]