New York County Lawyers Association Supports ESSA – the Equity for Surviving Spouses Act

The New York County Lawyers Association is pleased to join the growing number of our fellow bar associations that have expressed support for the Equity for Surviving Spouses Act (ESSA).  This proposed legislation seeks to address a simple but serious problem: for New York’s public sector employees, the “default” retirement benefit option is one that fully terminates upon the death of the retiree, leaving no continued benefits for his or her surviving spouse.  The program includes, among others, an option that provides for a 50% “survivor annuity” (that is, a reduced monthly pension for the retiree during his or her lifetime, followed by a monthly pension for the surviving spouse equal to 50% of what the retiree receives during his or her lifetime); however, this option must be specifically elected.  As a report by the New York State Bar Association recently observed, experience shows that many employees do not realize that they have not elected the survivor benefit – and many spouses have no idea that the death of their spouse will leave them with “significantly reduced standards of living, or in complete destitution.”

The proposed legislation would remedy this by making the 50% “survivor annuity” the default option.  Further, to protect the surviving spouse from financial insecurity, an employee could waive that survivor benefit only with the written consent of his or her spouse – the beneficiary whose economic rights are being waived.  This approach (which would not apply to current retirees) would protect the families of public employees by ensuring that they continue to be provided for after a retiree’s death.

About the New York County Lawyers Association

The New York County Lawyers Association (www.nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as one of the first major bar associations in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

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