22 U.S.C. § 4047 — Payment of annuity

(a) Start date. (1) Unless paragraph (2) applies, an eligible participant’s annuity starts on the first day of the month after separation, or after pay stops and service and age requirements are met. (2) For a person eligible under section 4009(a), retired under section 4053, otherwise involuntarily separated except for misconduct or delinquency, retiring for disability under section 4048, or serving 3 days or less in the retirement month, it starts the day after separation or the day after pay stops and the requirements are met. (b) Survivor application. A survivor annuity becomes effective when otherwise specified but is not paid until the survivor applies and provides proof the Secretary requires. If the application or proof is not submitted during the eligible person’s life, nothing is owed to the estate. (c) Waiver. A person entitled to a Fund annuity may decline all or part by signed waiver to the Secretary. The person may revoke it in writing at any time, but the waived amount cannot be paid for the waiver period. (d) Overpayments. The Secretary may not recover an overpayment when the person was without fault and recovery would be against equity and good conscience or administratively infeasible. (e) Alternate forms. (1) The Secretary must issue rules allowing a participant with a life-threatening affliction or other critical condition, when retiring other than under section 4048, to choose this section’s annuity benefits instead of other benefits under this part, including survivor benefits, based on the participant’s service. (2) The rules must offer appropriate alternatives, including one paying the participant the lump-sum credit without interest and an annuity for life, and, for a married participant, one paying that credit and a life annuity with a survivor annuity for the surviving spouse’s life. (3) As far as practical, each alternative must have a total benefit value, including the lump sum, actuarially equivalent to the otherwise payable annuity computed under section 4046(a). (4) A married participant cannot elect unless a section 4046(b)(1)(B) waiver exists. A participant with a former spouse entitled to benefits based on the participant’s service cannot elect unless a section 4046(b)(1)(C) waiver exists. (5) A married participant making this election may, within 18 months after retirement, make the section 4046(n) election, subject to its deposit requirement. (6) A lump-sum credit received under this subsection does not prevent the person from receiving other benefits under this subsection.