State Public Pensions in Pennsylvania

SERS members manage their account at members.sers.pa.gov.¹

SERS asks the person reporting a death for the deceased member's name, Social Security number and date of death, and the county the member lived in (retired member) or the county of the member's work location (active member).¹

PSERS takes a death report by phone or by email. For an active PSERS member, the member's Pennsylvania public school employer reports the death to PSERS.²

A continuing survivor annuity is paid if the retiree elected a survivor payment option; otherwise the death benefit is paid to the named beneficiary, or to the estate if no beneficiary nomination is on file.^{1, 3}

SERS pays beneficiaries entitled to less than $10,000 in a lump sum; those entitled to $10,000 or more may choose from a number of payment options.¹

SERS pays whomever the member named on the most recent beneficiary nomination form. With no form on file, SERS pays the member's estate, and the proceeds are settled and distributed that way.⁴

SERS does not automatically pay a death benefit to a current spouse, because federal pension statutes and ERISA do not apply to governmental plans like SERS, and a nomination form received after the member's death cannot be honored.⁴

If a beneficiary has not been named, or the primary and secondary beneficiaries predecease the member, PSERS pays the benefit to the member's estate.³

PSERS carries no special spousal rights and requires no spousal consent.²

SERS states that by law it must receive a certified death certificate listing the cause and manner of death before paying any death benefit.¹

PSERS accepts as proof of death a certified death certificate, a court order declaring the death, or a Consular Report of Death of a U.S. Citizen Abroad.²

PSERS accepts a noncertified death certificate only to pay the prorated annuity for the member's last month of life. Cause of death must appear on the certificate or in a statement from the coroner or medical examiner.²

State government workers¹

Public-school employees²