Pension Plan Summary Plan Description
10.3 Pre-Retirement Survivor Annuity
If you are vested and you die after having attained age 55 but before your pension start date, your spouse of at least one year who survives you will receive a pre-retirement survivor annuity payable for the remainder of your surviving spouse's life. The lifetime payment to be made to your spouse is equal to the monthly payment that would have been paid to your spouse had you retired on the day before your death and immediately thereafter commenced payment under a joint and 50% survivor annuity. Benefits to your surviving spouse will begin as of the first day of the month following the month in which you died, but no earlier than the earliest date that you could have commenced an Early Pension.
If you die before having attained age 55, your surviving spouse will be paid the same benefit that would have been paid had you (i) terminated employment on the date of your death, (ii) survived to the earliest retirement date available to you under the Plan and then received an immediate joint and 50% survivor annuity, and (iii) died the next day. This surviving spouse benefit does not commence until the first day of the month following the earliest retirement age that would have been available to you under the Plan (generally, age 55) unless your Spouse elects a later date, but no later than December 31 of the year in which you would have attained age 73. If your surviving spouse elects the immediate lump sum death benefit described in Section 10.4, the pre-retirement survivor annuity will be reduced or eliminated depending on the value of the lump sum payment. Pre-retirement survivor annuity coverage for your surviving spouse is automatic. If you have an Accrued Benefit, you cannot waive the pre-retirement survivor annuity.
Only a spouse may qualify as a survivor annuitant under a pre-retirement survivor annuity.