Central States Survivor Benefits

[heyyou488]

Hello, I am new to the forum as I am trying to help my mom navigate Central States Pension plan since my dad passed away.

My dad had almost 30 years of service and contribution to Central States, but died suddenly at age 63 (not yet retired). This has left my mom in a bad place as she has not been the bread winner and had been married to him for more than 40 years.

We logged into Central States (with his account) and were able to find the survivor benefits and benefit calculator that said she would be eligible for a 60 month payment or the 50% payment. We completed the survivor application and submitted it online.

Central States sent a letter to her (not my father), dated the day after we filed online, that included a prefilled form (JSO Surviving spouse effective date election form) for her to sign that would start the 50% payment.

My mom then called Central States to ask about the form and inform them that she would like the 60 month payout. The person responded that she was not eligible for this, since my dad was not on retirement before he died. However, when you look at the plan guide it says that this program is specifically a "before retirement death benefit" and all qualifications listed there are true for my father.

My mom also asked about the $10K life insurance policy (as my dad was an 18+) and the person on the phone said, I am sorry but I can't tell you anything about this because your husband's file and your application hasn't been reviewed yet. So why was the doc sent to her?

My questions:
1) Has anyone seen this, if so, how did you fix it?
2) Are they just trying to get her to take the lower amount (50%)?
3) Is there some other place I should be looking to find these "unwritten qualification requirements"?

If anyone has dealt with this or has any specific information, I would love to talk with you to see if we can make this smooth for my mom as she is just trying to find her path forward.

[Jimmy]

I am sure a retiree will come by and hopefully answer your questions. I really can't because I am still working and really don't know much and the particulars of the retirement plan.

[Jimmy]

although it wouldn't hurt to call his local and speak to whom ever is in charge of the pension fund in the local office.

[Jimmy]

not sure if you have filled this one out. just showing you in case you haven't

https://mycentralstatespension.org/-/media/Pension/PDFs/Forms/pn_application-srvr.pdf?la=en&hash=BB07436B2991816589260D0C3889A0 C287B2085C

I think you said that this one was filled out already.

[heyyou488]

not sure if you have filled this one out. just showing you in case you haven't

https://mycentralstatespension.org/-/media/Pension/PDFs/Forms/pn_application-srvr.pdf?la=en&hash=BB07436B2991816589260D0C3889A0 C287B2085C

I think you said that this one was filled out already.

Yes, this is the form we submitted. Thank you though. They have also disabled my dad's account now so we can no longer see years of service and estimated payments.

[tiredseat]

Contact or go to the local union office and they should be able to help you or at the very least guide you in the right direction. Hopefully you’ll find something out but I’d sure get ahold of the local union office.