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New Hampshire · NHRS · Survivor benefits

NHRS death and survivor benefits

What the New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS) pays a family depends on whether the member was still working, whether the death was job-related, and, after retirement, the payment option chosen.

Dies while working

50% for life

for a spouse, with 10+ years; or a lump sum of a year's pay plus contributions.

NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits'; NHRS Pre-Retirement Death Benefits brochure (4/2025); RSA 100-A:9

Job-related death

50% of AFC

a year for the spouse, for life.

NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits', Accidental Death Benefit; RSA 100-A:8

Death while working (not job-related)

Member dies in service (not job-related). With 10 or more years or eligible for Service Retirement, and the spouse the only beneficiary: the spouse may take a lifetime pension of 50% of the member's Service Retirement pension, or a lump sum of the member's annual Earnable Compensation plus a refund of accumulated contributions. Otherwise the beneficiaries get a lump sum of annual Earnable Compensation plus the refund (statute: the greater of $3,600 or annual Earnable Compensation). NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits'; NHRS Pre-Retirement Death Benefits brochure (4/2025); RSA 100-A:9

Our engine on NHRS's rules, not an NHRS example: a Tier A teacher who dies at 56 with 25 years, a $60,000 AFC and $65,000 in yearly pay. The spouse could choose a pension of about $10,500 a year, or $65,000 plus the member's contributions. Job-related, the spouse's pension would be $30,000 a year.

Survivor pension for a member who dies young Check with NHRS

The spouse's ordinary death pension is 50% of 'the service retirement allowance that would have been payable to the member had the member retired immediately prior to death'. Sources don't say whether an early-retirement reduction applies when the member was under 60 (65 for Tier C). The engine applies the same reduction an early retirement would have had, and none if the member wasn't yet eligible to retire.

Reduced like an early retirement on the day before death.

What would settle it: An NHRS survivor benefit calculation.

The $3,600 minimum lump sum Check with NHRS

NHRS's Pre-retirement Death Benefits page describes the lump sum as annual Earnable Compensation plus the refund. RSA 100-A:9, III-IV makes it the greater of $3,600 or annual Earnable Compensation, plus the refund. The engine applies the statute's $3,600 floor.

Our engine, for a part-time member with 3 years and $2,500 of yearly pay: the statute's floor gives $3,600 plus contributions.

NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits'; RSA 100-A:9, III-IV

Job-related death

Job-related death: the surviving spouse of a Group I member gets an annual pension until death of 50% of the member's AFC, plus a refund of accumulated contributions to the beneficiaries; then children under 18, then a dependent parent; otherwise a lump sum. NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits', Accidental Death Benefit; RSA 100-A:8

Pre-selecting a survivor option

Active (or service-retirement-eligible) members may pre-select a maximum Survivorship Option: if they die before filing for retirement, the beneficiary gets a lifetime pension equal to the 100% Survivorship Option as if retirement occurred the day before death. Not automatic; a notarized form is required and the election ends when NHRS receives a retirement application. Group I Summaries (Rev. 10/2024), PDF p. 2, Pre-Selection of a Survivorship Option; NHRS page 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits'

After leaving, before the pension starts

If a member dies when not in service (including a vested deferred member before the pension starts), only a refund of accumulated contributions is payable. NHRS pages 'Pre-retirement Death Benefits' and 'Vested Deferred Retirement: Group I Tier A & B'

After retirement

What continues depends on the option you chose. The Maximum Retirement Allowance and Option 1 pay a survivor only any of your contributions not yet paid back; Options 2, 3 and 4 continue a lifetime pension. See payment options. NHRS Benefit Payment Options brochure (Rev 7/2022), PDF pp. 1-2; NHRS page 'Benefit Payment Options'; NHRS Service Retirement Booklet (Rev 7/2023), PDF pp. 4-5; RSA 100-A:13

First steps after a death

See also leaving teaching and the formula, or estimate the pension in the calculator.

Questions

What does NHRS pay if a teacher dies while working?

With 10+ years (or eligible to retire) and the spouse as the only beneficiary, the spouse can take a lifetime pension of 50% of the member's service retirement pension, or a lump sum of a year's pay plus the member's contributions. Otherwise the beneficiaries get the lump sum.

What if the death is job-related?

The surviving spouse gets a lifetime pension of 50% of the member's AFC, plus a refund of contributions to the beneficiaries.

What does a survivor get after an NHRS retiree dies?

It depends on the payment option chosen at retirement: nothing ongoing under the Maximum Retirement Allowance or Option 1 (only any unpaid contributions), or a lifetime pension under the survivorship options.

How New Hampshire compares

Survivor benefits: same topic in other states

Teacher pensions by state: the main rules side by side

Source: NHRS Group I (Employee and Teacher) Member Benefits summaries, Tiers A, B and C, Rev. 10/2024, PDF p. 2. Also: NHRS member web pages (saved Nov. 12, 2026); NHRS Pre-Retirement Death Benefits brochure (4/2025); NHRS Benefit Payment Options brochure (Rev 7/2022); NHRS Service Retirement Booklet (Rev 7/2023); RSA 100-A:8, 100-A:9, 100-A:13. Last reviewed .