(a) At the time of retirement, an employee or Member in good health, who is applying for a non-disability annuity, may elect an insurable interest annuity. Spousal consent is not required, but an election under this section does not exempt a married employee or Member from the provisions of §831.611(a).

(b) An insurable interest annuity may be elected by an employee or Member electing a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity or a former spouse annuity or annuities.

(c)

(1) In the case of a married employee or Member, an election under this section may not be made on behalf of a current spouse unless that current spouse has consented to an election not to provide a current spouse annuity in accordance with §831.611(a)(1).

(2) A consent (to an election not to provide a current spouse annuity in accordance with §831.611(a)(1)) required by paragraph (c)(1) of this section to be eligible to be the beneficiary of an insurable interest annuity is cancelled if—

(i) The retiree fails to qualify to receive the insurable interest annuity; or

(ii) The retiree changes his or her election to receive an insurable interest annuity under §831.621; or

(iii) The retiree elects a fully or partially reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity under §831.685.

(3) An election of a partially reduced annuity under §831.622(b) or §831.685 to provide a current spouse annuity for a current spouse who is the beneficiary of an insurable interest annuity is void unless the spouse consents to the election.

(4) If a retiree who had elected an insurable interest annuity to benefit a current spouse elects a fully reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity (or, with the consent of the current spouse, a partially reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity) under §831.622(b) or §831.685, the election of the insurable interest annuity is cancelled.

(5)

(i) A retiring employee or Member may not elect a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity to provide a former spouse annuity and an insurable interest annuity to benefit the same former spouse.

(ii) If a retiring employee or Member who is required by court order to provide a former spouse annuity elects an insurable interest annuity to benefit the former spouse with the court-ordered entitlement—

(A) If the benefit based on the election is greater than or equal to the benefit based on the court order, the election of the insurable interest annuity will satisfy the requirements of the court order as long as the insurable interest annuity continues.

(B) If the benefit based on the election is less than the benefit based on the court order, the election of the insurable interest annuity is void.

(iii) An election under §831.632 of a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity to benefit a former spouse by a retiree who elected and continues to receive an insurable interest annuity to benefit that former spouse is void.

(d) To elect an insurable interest annuity, an employee or Member must indicate the intention to make the election on the application for retirement; submit evidence to demonstrate that he or she is in good health; and arrange and pay for the medical examination that shows that he or she is in good health. A report of the medical examination, signed and dated by a licensed physician, must be furnished to OPM on such forms and at such time and place as OPM may prescribe.

(e) An insurable interest annuity may be elected to provide a survivor benefit only for a person who has an insurable interest in the retiring employee or Member.

(1) An insurable interest is presumed to exist with—

(i) The current spouse;

(ii) The current same-sex domestic partner;

(iii) A blood or adopted relative closer than first cousins;

(iv) A former spouse;

(v) A former same-sex domestic partner;

(vi) A person to whom the employee or Member is engaged to be married, or a person with whom the employee or Member has agreed to enter into a same-sex domestic partnership;

(vii) A person with whom the employee or Member is living in a relationship that would constitute a common-law marriage in jurisdictions recognizing common-law marriages;

(2) For purposes of this section, the term “same-sex domestic partner” means a person in a domestic partnership with an employee or annuitant of the same sex and the term “domestic partnership” is defined as a committed relationship between two adults, of the same sex, in which the partners—

(i) Are each other's sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely;

(ii) Maintain a common residence, and intend to continue to do so (or would maintain a common residence but for an assignment abroad or other employment-related, financial, or similar obstacle);

(iii) Are at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract;

(iv) Share responsibility for a significant measure of each other's financial obligations;

(v) Are not married or joined in a civil union to anyone else;

(vi) Are not the domestic partner of anyone else;

(vii) Are not related in a way that, if they were of opposite sex, would prohibit legal marriage in the U.S. jurisdiction in which the domestic partnership was formed; and

(viii) Are willing to certify, if required by OPM, that they understand that willful falsification of any documentation required to establish that an individual is in a domestic partnership may lead to disciplinary action and the recovery of the cost of benefits received related to such falsification, as well as constitute a criminal violation under 18 U.S.C. 1001.

(3) When an insurable interest is not presumed, the employee or Member must submit affidavits from one or more persons with personal knowledge of the named beneficiary's insurable interest in the employee or Member. The affidavits must set forth the relationship, if any, between the named beneficiary and the employee or Member, the extent to which the named beneficiary is dependent on the employee or Member, and the reasons why the named beneficiary might reasonably expect to derive financial benefit from the continued life of the employee or Member.

(4) The employee or Member may be required to submit documentary evidence to establish the named beneficiary's date of birth.

(f) After receipt of all required evidence to support an election of an insurable interest annuity, OPM will notify the employee or Member of initial monthly annuity rates with and without the election of an insurable interest annuity and the initial rate payable to the named beneficiary. No election of an insurable interest annuity is effective unless the employee or Member confirms the election in writing, dies, or becomes incompetent no later than 60 days after the date of the notice described in this paragraph.

(g)

(1) When an employee or Member elects both an insurable interest annuity and a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity and/or a former spouse annuity or annuities, each reduction is computed based on the self-only annuity computation. The combined reduction may exceed the maximum 40 percent reduction in the retired employee's or Member's annuity permitted under section 8339(k)(1) of title 5, United States Code, applicable to insurable interest annuities.

(2) The rate of annuity paid to the beneficiary of an insurable interest election, when the employee or Member also elected a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity, equals 55 (or 50 percent if based on a separation before October 11, 1962) percent of the rate of annuity after the insurable interest reduction. The additional reduction to provide a current spouse annuity or a former spouse annuity is not considered in determining the rate of annuity paid to the beneficiary of the insurable interest election.

(h)

(1) Except as provided in §831.612(d), if a retiree who is receiving a fully reduced annuity or a partially reduced annuity to provide a former spouse annuity has also elected an insurable interest annuity to benefit a current spouse and if the eligible former spouse remarries before age 55, dies, or loses eligibility under the terms of the court order, and no other former spouse is entitled to a survivor annuity based on an election made in accordance with §831.632 or a qualifying court order, the retiree may elect, within 2 years after the former spouse's remarriage, death, or loss of eligibility under the terms of the court order, to convert the insurable interest annuity to a fully reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity, effective on the first day of the month following the event causing the former spouse to lose eligibility.

(2) An election under paragraph (h)(1) of this section cancels any consent not to receive a current spouse annuity required by paragraph (c) of this section for the current spouse to be eligible for an annuity under this section.

(3) When a former spouse receiving an annuity under section 8341(h) of title 5, United States Code, loses eligibility to that annuity, a beneficiary of an insurable interest annuity who was the current spouse at both the time of the retiree's retirement and death may, within 2 years after the former spouse's death, remarriage, or loss of eligibility under the terms of the court order, elect to receive a current spouse annuity instead of the annuity he or she had been receiving. The election is effective on the first day of the month following the event causing the former spouse to lose eligibility.

(i) Upon the death of the current spouse, a retiree whose annuity is reduced to provide both a current spouse annuity and an insurable interest benefit for a former spouse is not permitted to convert the insurable interest annuity to a reduced annuity to provide a former spouse annuity.

(j) An employee or Member may name only one natural person as the named beneficiary of an insurable interest annuity. OPM will not accept the designation of contingent beneficiaries and such a designation is void.

(k)

(1) An election under this section is prospectively voided by an election of a reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity under §831.631 that would benefit the same person.

(2)

(i) If the spouse is not the beneficiary of the election under this section, a retiree may prospectively void an election under this section at the time the retiree elects a reduced annuity to provide a current spouse annuity under §831.631.

(ii) A retiree's election to void an election under paragraph (k)(2)(i) of this section must be filed at the same time as the election under §831.631.

(3) An annuity reduction under this section terminates on the first day of the month after the beneficiary of the insurable interest annuity dies.

[50 FR 20070, May 13, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 31931, Sept. 8, 1986; 52 FR 10216, Mar. 31, 1987; 55 FR 9100, Mar. 12, 1990; 58 FR 52880, Oct. 13, 1993. Redesignated at 58 FR 52882, Oct. 13, 1993, as amended at 66 FR 66711, Dec. 27, 2001; 77 FR 42911, July 20, 2012]