Benefit Change Approved for Retirees with Special Needs Children

A newly released Defense Department policy allows military retirees with special needs children to take advantage of a law changing the way their Survivor Benefit Plan can be paid after their death.

The Survivor Benefit Plan allows military retirees to provide to a designee a monthly payout after their death of up to 55 percent of their retirement pay, depending on the plan the choose. Users pay a monthly premium. If the retiree outlives the person for whom he has designated the payout, the premiums are lost.