In the event of a death of either a member or survivor annuitant, please contact COAERS immediately at (512) 458-2551 to report a death. We will need to need to know Member’s name and official date of death for any processing of death benefit.

If you are reporting an Active member death, the beneficiaries on file with COAERS will receive double the account balance if not eligible to retire. If eligible to retire, the spouse can retire in place of the member. If the member is close to retirement, they can choose to pre-select a survivor beneficiary option.

If you are reporting a Retired member death, the beneficiaries on file COAERS will receive a $10,000 taxable death benefit and any remaining deposits on balance. The COAERS death benefit will default to the Member’s spouse from their most recent marriage. Spousal consent will be required if the spouse from their most recent marriage is not receiving the death benefit.

Also for a Retired member death, there is a $1,000 life insurance payable from City HR Benefits office, you may contact them at 512-974-3284.
If there is a Survivor annuitant that the retiree selected as their benefit, the monthly annuity payment will continue on to that Survivor.

If you are reporting the death of a Survivor annuitant, and the Member is still alive and Option 1, 2, or 3 was selected, then the Member’s annuity will pop-up to the Life annuity option. If the Survivor Annuitant was receiving the monthly annuity, the final annuity payment will be processed at the end of the month in which they passed away.

If you are reporting the death of an Alternate payee receiving a QDRO Annuity, the final annuity payment will be processed at the end of the month in which they passed away. The Member’s payment will resume back to the full payment.