The Survivor Benefit Plan at retirement

Your retired pay stops when you die. The Survivor Benefit Plan can pay a spouse, former spouse or child part of it, for a monthly cost taken from your pay, and the choice is hard to change either way once retired pay starts.

If you're retiring from the military with a spouse or children, you have a decision to make about your retired pay, which stops when you die. The Survivor Benefit Plan, or SBP, can keep part of it going to the people you name, for a monthly cost taken from that pay. Covering a spouse costs up to 6.5% of the base amount each month, plus an add-on for some Guard and Reserve members, and the premiums aren't refunded. Not covering them leaves no SBP annuity for them.

DFAS warns that the decisions you make about SBP at retirement can be difficult to change. If you're married or have a dependent child, you're enrolled at full coverage unless you opt out. Opting out, or covering your spouse for less, takes your spouse's notarized signature. Once your retired pay starts, the election is final except in a list of cases.

What SBP pays

SBP pays a surviving spouse, former spouse or child a monthly annuity equal to 55% of your base amount, whether the beneficiary is under 62 or older. Your base amount is, in general, the monthly retired pay you're entitled to when you become eligible for it. You can designate a lower one, as low as $300, by the first day you're eligible for retired pay, and your spouse must concur in anything below full pay.

The annuity and your base amount rise together with each retired-pay cost-of-living increase, which DoD ties to the Consumer Price Index. For life insurance, see our guide to SGLI and VGLI.

A surviving spouse or former spouse is paid for life unless the spouse remarries before 55. Payment then stops, and it restarts if that marriage ends. Children are paid when no spouse is eligible. A child qualifies if unmarried and either under 18, 18 to 21 and in a full-time course of study, or unable to support themselves because of an incapacity that began before 18, or before 22 while in a full-time course of study.

Survivors keep the full SBP annuity even when they also receive VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. The law pays the full annuity for months on and after January 1, 2023, and DoD says surviving spouses have received both in full since February 1, 2023. That repeal, Section 622 of the fiscal 2020 defense authorization act, created no new chance to enroll for retirees who had declined.

Your TSP is separate; see the TSP after you leave. If you waive retired pay so military service counts toward a CSRS or FERS annuity, an SBP annuity is payable only if you told OPM you don't want a surviving spouse to receive the civilian survivor annuity. Ask DFAS and OPM before you send a waiver; see military buyback.

What it costs

The cost comes out of your gross retired pay every month, and the IRS says to leave that amount out of your income.

If you retire on length of service and first joined a uniformed service on or after March 1, 1990, the premium is 6.5% of your base amount. Medical retirees, Guard and Reserve members whose retired pay starts under the non-regular (Reserve) system, and anyone who first served before March 1, 1990, pay whichever is lower: 6.5%, or 2.5% of the first slice of the base amount plus 10% of the rest.

If you're in one of those groups, that first slice is a dollar threshold that rises with each military basic-pay raise, which takes effect each January. The statute applies a raise only to people whose retired pay is computed on the new pay rates. The Office of the Actuary's 2025 workbook lists it as $1,056 for 2025. For this year, the Air Force and Army pages disagree on the figure (the Army page prints two), and no DFAS or DoD page we read prints one, so ask DFAS or your branch's retirement services office for the current figure.

We computed the bars at the percentages in the law (2024 U.S. Code edition) on round base amounts. On $3,000, 6.5% is $195.00 and 55% is $1,650.00. Half the base halves both, to $97.50 and $825.00. A medical, Reserve or pre-1990 retiree pays whichever formula is lower. On a $1,500 base at the 2025 threshold, that is 2.5% × $1,056 = $26.40 plus 10% × $444 = $44.40, or $70.80. On $3,000 the flat 6.5% is the lower one.

Premiums stop after the later of the 360th month your retired pay is reduced for SBP and the month you turn 70. They aren't refunded, with narrow exceptions such as a deduction made in error, premiums taken after a covered spouse's death or after a divorce you don't cover, and the total-disability route below.

If your retired pay can't cover the premium, DFAS takes it from your Combat-Related Special Compensation, if you receive that. If VA compensation has replaced your retired pay, you can have VA deduct it using DD Form 2891 Interim, or pay DFAS directly. Past-due amounts accrue interest, 4.0% a year on DFAS's page updated October 1, 2026. Unpaid premiums come out of your survivor's annuity, and none is paid until they are cleared.

DoD says the survivor's annuity is taxable for federal income tax, with exceptions listed in IRS Publication 525.

Who you can cover

Military OneSource lists six elections. The table shows who is paid, what each costs and when your spouse must sign.

A spouse you marry after retiring is a survivor only after one year of marriage or a child together. With no spouse and no dependent child, you can name one natural person with an insurable interest. You can end that coverage at any time in writing, with no refund and no consent from that person, or, with a written election received within one year after you marry or have a child, change it to spouse or child coverage. DoD's worksheet says to contact DFAS or a personnel counselor for the exact cost in your situation.

A member with spouse-and-child or child-only coverage may elect to have the annuity paid to a certified special needs trust for the sole benefit of that child. The election can't be revoked. DoD says the trust lets the child receive SBP without interfering with means-tested aid such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid; DFAS says that in some cases it may preserve eligibility for other federal or state benefits.

The election and the default

You make the election on DD Form 2656, Data for Payment of Retired Personnel. DoD's forms index showed the March 2022 edition as current on October 5, 2026, and the form marks earlier editions obsolete. A revision is pending at the Office of Management and Budget, so your office may hand you a newer edition.

If you're married or have a dependent child when you become entitled to retired pay, coverage is the default. You're in at the maximum unless you elect otherwise before the first day you're eligible for that pay. The form's instructions say that with no election you get maximum coverage for all eligible family members, and DFAS starts coverage at the spouse-only cost when it gets no election or an invalid one. If you have no spouse and no dependent child, you aren't required to elect, but DFAS wants to be told you have none.

The election is final once retired pay starts: you can revoke it before that date, and after it only in the cases below. DFAS treats a DD 2656 that is signed or submitted after retirement as invalid. Treat the second date below as the outer limit, not a target, because a reminder two weeks before it comes late. These dates fit a regular retirement. They don't apply to Guard and Reserve members electing when they receive notice of eligibility for retired pay (the 20-year letter), whose election is due 90 days after it arrives; only the last two rows apply to them, counted from the day retired pay starts.

Your spouse's signature

If you're married, three choices need your spouse's written concurrence: electing not to take part, covering your spouse at less than the maximum level (a reduced base amount counts), and covering only a child.

DD Form 2656 and DoD's regulation set the formalities. You sign first, with a witness who can't be your spouse, a dependent child or another beneficiary on the form. Your spouse then signs the concurrence part, notarized and dated on or after your signature and before your retirement date.

An election fails if the DD 2656 never arrives, is signed or sent after retirement, declines or reduces coverage without that notarized concurrence, or has your spouse signing before you. If a required concurrence isn't in place before retirement, full spouse coverage takes effect whatever you asked for, and a later change goes through an administrative correction. A power of attorney can't make the election for you.

You don't need it to cover a former spouse, but your current spouse must be notified. The opt-out window and the Reserve choices below need it too.

After retired pay starts

DoD says elections can't be canceled or changed after retirement except in specific cases. The statute and DFAS list more.

Months 25 to 36. You can elect to stop SBP during the one-year period that begins on the second anniversary of the date your retired pay commences, which DFAS counts as the 25th through 36th month. Only a request on DD Form 2656-2 (July 2020) counts. A married member needs the spouse's concurrence, witnessed by a notary or a Service-designated SBP counselor. If a court required you to cover a former spouse, DD Form 2656-2 asks you to attach a certified copy of a modified court order that allows you to stop; if you chose that coverage under a written agreement no court approved, your former spouse must concur.

Coverage ends on the first day of the month after DFAS receives the request, and you have 30 days to withdraw it. Once you stop, no benefits are payable from the earlier participation, premiums aren't refunded, and DoD's form says you can't reenter the plan. The law requires DoD to send a written statement of the advantages and disadvantages promptly after you ask.

A new spouse or child. If you had no spouse and no dependent child when you became eligible, you can join after you marry or have a child, with a written, signed election received within one year. DFAS points to DD Form 2656-6. If you had a spouse or child at retirement and chose not to cover them, that door stays shut for a later spouse or child.

Remarriage. If you cover your spouse for less and remarry, you can raise coverage within one year by paying the difference plus interest. If you lose your spouse beneficiary and remarry, coverage resumes at the first anniversary unless you decline within the year. That decision is irrevocable.

Divorce. You can elect former-spouse coverage within one year of the decree, with DD Form 2656-1. If a court orders you to cover a former spouse, that former spouse can ask for a deemed election within one year of the order, on DD Form 2656-10 (July 2020).

Total disability. A retiree whose service-connected disability VA rates totally disabling can stop SBP after 10 or more continuous years at that rating or, for a shorter period, at least 5 continuous years counted from the last discharge or release from active duty. The beneficiary must consent in writing, the amounts deducted are refunded to your surviving spouse at your death, and if VA lowers the rating below total you can re-enter with a timely application.

Open season

The last open season ran from December 23, 2022 to January 1, 2024. DFAS says only Congress can create an open season, and the DFAS and DoD pages we read on October 4, 2026 announce none. The fiscal 2026 defense authorization act (Public Law 119-60) has no Survivor Benefit Plan section.

Guard and Reserve

If you're a Guard or Reserve member with 20 qualifying years who isn't yet drawing retired pay, your decision comes sooner, with the notice of eligibility for retired pay, the "20-year letter." It must arrive in writing within one year after you complete the service.

If you're married or have a dependent child, you're enrolled unless you opt out within 90 days of receiving the letter. You elect on DD Form 2656-5 (August 2011), and with no election in 90 days, DFAS says the law puts you in Option C, an immediate annuity. DFAS's forms page says your branch must receive the form within 60 days of the letter's date, so ask your branch for its deadline. The election and any reduced base amount are final after those 90 days. With no eligible spouse or child when the letter arrives, you needn't elect, but a later marriage gives you one year to do so before coverage defaults to declined.

Option A declines until retirement age. If you die before then, no annuity is paid, and you stay eligible to join when retired pay starts. Option B starts the annuity on your 60th birthday if you die earlier. Option C starts it the day after your death, at any age. A married member needs notarized spouse concurrence for Option A or B, or for coverage below the maximum, or the election is invalid.

Coverage starts at once, but premiums aren't paid until you're entitled to retired pay, usually at 60. Then you pay the standard SBP cost plus an add-on that depends on the beneficiary, immediate or deferred annuity, and your age gap. DoD doesn't subsidize the add-on. If you die before 60, the law sets the annuity at a percentage of the base amount that is below 55%, and DoD's regulation sets the reduction to the survivor's annuity at .0001 of the base amount. DD Form 2656-5 describes the annuity as 55 percent of the level of coverage selected. Ask DFAS which figure applies to you.

A choice of Option B or C is permanent unless the law allows a change, such as the one-year window that starts on the second anniversary of the day your retired pay starts, which is your 62nd birthday if it starts at 60. For a regular retirement's pay start, see final pay and terminal leave.

Counseling and DoD's tools

DFAS says to seek counseling from your branch of service. DFAS points Army retirees to the Army's retirement services office page. DFAS lists retiree services offices for the Air Force and Space Force, Army, Marine Corps (800-336-4649) and Navy (866-827-5672), but not the Coast Guard. DD Form 2656 says the Coast Guard PPC receives SBP disenrollment requests from members who are not in the Defense Department. Military OneSource also offers free financial counseling to retirees for 365 days after the retirement date.

DoD's Office of the Actuary posts SBP spreadsheets to download. Premium estimates your monthly premium, Probability estimates the chance your spouse outlives you, and Insurance compares SBP with a term life policy. Page 1 of DD Form 2656-2, headed "Advantages and Disadvantages of Continued SBP Participation," lists advantages such as peace of mind, untaxed premiums, a government subsidy and inflation-protected benefits, and disadvantages such as permanence, a beneficiary who might not recover what was paid in, reduced need and a taxable annuity.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Carmen Ruiz is a fictional Army soldier retiring on June 1, 2027, after 22 years of enlisted service. She joined in 2005 and retires on length of service, so the flat 6.5% premium applies. Her retired pay will be $3,000 a month (a round number for this example). She is married to Marcus, and they have no dependent children.

Carmen and Marcus attend SBP counseling and ask for figures on two base amounts. At the full $3,000, coverage for Marcus would cost 6.5% × $3,000 = $195.00 a month and pay him 55% × $3,000 = $1,650.00. A $1,500 base would cost $97.50 and pay $825.00. No coverage would cost nothing and pay nothing. Full coverage on the full base amount needs no concurrence. Any smaller base amount, or no coverage, needs Carmen to sign DD Form 2656 first and Marcus to sign before a notary, dated on or after hers and by May 31, 2027, or DFAS applies full coverage. Whichever they pick, the election goes on DD Form 2656 (March 2022 edition) with her retirement paperwork.

If coverage stays on a fixed $3,000 base, 360 premiums would add up to 360 × $195 = $70,200. The real total would be higher, because the base amount and the premium rise with each retired-pay increase.

Carmen was born in March 1983, so she turns 70 in March 2053. If coverage stays on the full base amount and June 2027 is the first month her pay is reduced, her 360th premium falls in May 2057, which is later, so premiums would stop after that month. If she had coverage and later wanted to stop it, the window would open June 1, 2029, she would send DD Form 2656-2, and Marcus would have to concur before a notary or SBP counselor.

This is general information, not financial or legal advice for your situation. Military OneSource financial counseling is free to service members and eligible family members, and to retirees and their immediate family until 365 days after the retirement date, at 800-342-9647 and through installation programs. After that, DFAS lists retiree services contacts for the branches, and the Fort Lee Army Retirement Services Office offers SBP counseling.