Life Events

Key life events, which may occur during your career and in retirement, could have an impact on your benefits. You can easily update your personal information and your beneficiary information at any time.

For purposes of life insurance, "family status change" includes:

  • Marriage, divorce, or legal separation
  • Birth of a child
  • Adoption of a child
  • Death of your spouse or child

Marriage


Active Members

If you get married, consider updating your beneficiary designations at myMOSERS to include your new spouse.

  • Complete and submit the Designation/Change of Beneficiaries form for your basic and optional life insurance.
  • If you are a member of the MSEP 2011 or the Judicial Plan 2011, complete and submit the Contribution Beneficiaries form for your employee contributions.

You may be eligible to increase your optional life insurance without proving insurability. Log in to myMOSERS to complete and submit the Enrollment/Change Optional Life Insurance form.

Retired Members

There are two circumstances in which you may re-elect the benefit payment option you chose at retirement:

  • If you were single at retirement and elected the life income annuity, you may elect a survivor benefit for your new spouse if you marry after retirement.
  • If you elected a joint & survivor option at retirement and your spouse dies, you may elect a survivor benefit for your new spouse if you remarry.

You have one year from your date of marriage to elect a survivor benefit for your new spouse. If you are unsure which benefit payment option you elected, you can find out if you check your Annual Benefit Statement, log in to myMOSERS, or contact us.

Birth or Adoption

If you have MOSERS life insurance, your newborn child is covered from the moment of live birth. Your adopted child is automatically insured from the time of placement.

However, coverage will automatically end after 31 days from the birth or adoption unless you enroll your newborn or adopted child for dependent coverage or you currently have dependent life insurance in place for your other child(ren).

  • To enroll or add a child, log in to myMOSERS and submit the Enrollment/Change Optional Life Insurance form.
  • You may also be eligible to increase your optional life insurance without proving insurability. Log in to myMOSERS to complete and submit the Enrollment/Change Optional Life Insurance form.

Divorce


Active Members

If you were married at any time while an active member of MOSERS and divorce, your spouse may be legally entitled to a portion of your pension benefit. For a better understanding of how your pension benefits may be divided during divorce proceedings, read the Divorce & Your Pension Benefit brochure or contact us for more information.

To update your beneficiary designations if you get divorced, log in to myMOSERS:

  • Complete and submit the Designation/Change of Beneficiaries form for basic and optional life insurance.
  • If you are a member of the MSEP 2011 or the Judicial Plan 2011, complete and submit the Contribution Beneficiaries form for your employee contributions.

If you get divorced, you may be eligible to increase your optional life insurance without proving insurability. Log in to myMOSERS to complete and submit the Enrollment/Change Optional Life Insurance form.

 
Retired Members

Pursuant to legislation passed in 2020, as of January 1, 2021, if you get divorced after retirement, you may utilize the Joint & Survivor Divorce Pop-Up option* to remove your ex-spouse as a survivor beneficiary on your MOSERS pension benefits and receive an adjusted annuity amount.

To do so, you must obtain a divorce decree or amended divorce decree from a court of competent jurisdiction, which states:

  • You, the member, retain sole possession of your MOSERS pension benefits (it either terminates or does not include any division of benefits order) and
  • Your ex-spouse is removed as the beneficiary entitled to survivor benefits based on your retirement election of a joint & survivor benefit payment option.

You must provide MOSERS with a certified copy of your divorce decree/amended divorce decree to adjust your benefits.

See the Divorce & Your Pension Benefit brochure or contact us for more information

*The Joint & Survivor Divorce Pop-Up option is not available to members of the Judicial Plan or Judicial Plan 2011.

Major Illness or Injury

As an active member, you may be eligible for long-term disability (LTD) benefits if you face a lengthy illness or major injury that leaves you unable to work. Our Workplace Possibilities Program may be able to assist in making workplace changes so you can avoid going or staying on LTD.

Death

Contact us as soon as possible to report the death of any MOSERS active member, retiree, or beneficiary. By doing so, you will help us identify and pay any remaining benefits more quickly.

As an active member, if your spouse or child dies, you may be eligible to increase your optional life insurance without proving insurability. Log in to myMOSERS to complete and submit the Enrollment/Change Optional Life Insurance form.

Unused Annual Leave & Sick Leave


Unused Annual Leave:
  • The amount of your unused annual leave/vacation has no impact on your MOSERS pension benefits.
  • Your employer should pay you for at least some of your unused annual leave. The amount of annual leave that you may get paid for is determined by your agency or university, not by MOSERS.
  • Your agency or university may have a limit on how much they will payout. Limits may vary from one agency or university to another. Check your employee policies for details well in advance of your retirement date.
Unused Sick Leave:
  • Your monthly pension benefit from MOSERS will be based on your final average pay and your credited service. This can include unused sick leave.
  • Each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave is converted into one month of service credit to be used in your pension benefit calculation. (There is no partial credit; any amount less than 168 hours will be equal to zero additional months of credited service.)
  • Unused sick leave does not count as service in determining retirement eligibility but it can increase your benefit amount once you have become eligible for retirement.
  • If you use sick leave near your retirement date, it may affect previous benefit estimates you have received.
  • If you are eligible for BackDROP and elect to take it, you will receive credit for unused sick leave accrued during your BackDROP period.

Please check with your agency’s human resources office about your specific agency’s guidelines for annual and sick leave accrual and usage before retirement.

Confidentiality and Legal Documents

We treat all member documents and personal information as confidential and will not share it without your approval (except as required by law).

If you want us to share or discuss any of your benefit information with anyone else, you must complete and submit the Authorization to Release Information form available at myMOSERS.

If you have appointed someone to make financial decisions on your behalf under a durable power of attorney or if you have a court-appointed guardian or conservator, these documents must be submitted to MOSERS, and approved by our legal department before we can honor them.

Medical Insurance

MOSERS does not administer medical insurance. Most state employees have medical, dental, and vision insurance through Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan. Contact MCHCP or your employer for information about how life events may affect your medical insurance. If you work for the Department of Conservation or a college or university, your medical insurance may be through your employer.

Other Benefit Providers

At MOSERS, we administer retirement, life insurance, and long-term disability benefits for most state employees. Remember to contact your other Benefit Providers to update your information with them, too.