[‎‎USER]

QFTG: Both my husband and I will receive a military pension, if things go according to plan.

In the event one of us passes prematurely, is the other spouse entitled to the deceased spouse’s pension via the Survivor Benefit Program?

Is it possible for one person to collect 2 pensions – their own and that of their deceased spouse?

[Chad]

It’s tough to say with one claiming a pension and the other receiving the survivor benefit. So that would be a great question to the services who provide the pensions.

One thing you should do when it comes time to take the pensions is to do the analysis to see whether you should take a lump sums and then invest it yourself.

It may be possible one of you takes the pension with a survivor benefit and the other takes the lump sum and invests it.

[Robert]

I have no idea……but I would assume info would be available on the SBP website. And I’m certain this question has come up enough to where it might e be in the FAQS…..

the other thing you wanna make sure you do is keep your SGLI, when you each retire by converting to VGLI…..

I did that when I retired from the Army Reserve in 2007…… the premiums are higher because it’s VGLI and not SGLI….. but it’s still a huge amount of money for a relatively low monthly cost…

And as long as you convert within a certain window, there’s no physical exam required. Right now I’m paying about 300 bucks a month for 300 K in coverage… (I’ll be 63 in November) …..

and there’s no way any insurer would write a term policy on me at this point in my life.

[Andrew]

Yes, me and my wife are both in the process of retirement now and had it come up during the SBP briefing, if you do both opt in you can receive your pension and an SBP pension.

[Zack]

Mil to mil couple here…both retired. Yes if you both opt in for SBP. However, do the math. SBP is not exactly cheap and SBP in your situation is not worth it.

You are better off simply taking out life insurance policies (and not VGLI!) for each of you right before you retire from the military.

Much cheaper with more benefit.

[Author]

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