The Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA) is for surviving spouses who are beneficiaries of a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity and that SBP annuity is partially or fully offset by a Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) payment.
Surviving spouses whose SBP annuity is suspended due to remarriage prior to age 55 are not eligible for SSIA during the suspension. If the surviving spouse regains eligibility for SBP and DIC, they will also regain eligibility for SSIA. The SBP annuity for children is not offset by DIC, so child SBP beneficiaries are not authorized SSIA.
A survivor can't get both Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) payments and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) at the same time, this is called double-dipping, getting more than one benefit for the same reason. This is prevented by federal law.
Therefore, if a survivor gets SBP and is authorized DIC, DFAS will deduct the DIC amount from all SBP payments and pay the remaining amount of the SBP to the survivor. This is called the SBP/DIC offset.
For more details check out the respective retirement offices:
- Army Retirement Services Office
- Air Force Retirement Services Office
- Coast Guard Retirement Services Office
- Marine Corps Retirement Services Office
- Navy Retired Activities Office
For more information see our SSIA page.
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