31 USC 776 – Payment of survivor benefits
(a) An annuity under section 774 of this title accrues monthly and is paid monthly on the first business day of the month after the month in which an annuity accrues.
Terms Used In 31 USC 776
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
(b)(1) A surviving spouse’s annuity ends when the spouse remarries before age 55 or dies.
(2) A dependent child’s annuity ends when the child becomes 18 years of age (unless the child is then a student as described in section 771(1)(C) of this title), marries, or dies, whichever is earliest. However, if a child is not self-supporting because of a physical or mental disability, an annuity ends when the child recovers, marries, or dies.
(3) If a surviving spouse dies and a dependent child survives, the child’s annuity is recomputed under section 774(c)(3) of this title.
(4) When a dependent child’s annuity ends, the annuity of another dependent child is recomputed as if the child whose annuity has ended did not survive a Comptroller General or retired Comptroller General.
(c) An accrued annuity unpaid when the annuity of a survivor ends—
(1) for a reason except death, shall be paid to the survivor; and
(2) when a survivor dies, shall be paid in the following order of precedence:
(A) to the executor or administrator of the estate of the individual.
(B) if there is no executor or administrator, then after 30 days after the date of death, to an individual the General Counsel of the Government Accountability Office decides is legally entitled to the payment.
(d)(1) A payment under subsection (c)(2)(B) of this section or section 775(d) of this title is a bar to recovery by another individual.
(2) A benefit under this section and sections 773-775 of this title is not assignable or subject to legal process.