Missing Assets: Unclaimed Pension and Retirement Account Search

The Railroad Retirement Trust Fund is valued at almost $18 billion. RRB pays benefits to 818,000 beneficiaries, but acknowledges 5% of beneficiary addresses on file are not current. Because railroad retirement benefits are payable only after an application has been filed, no benefits are technically listed as unclaimed. Records are classified by Social Security number and date back to 1937. A limited number of records prior to 1937 may be available from the RRB.

Monthly benefits are payable to surviving widow(er)s, children, and certain other dependents at the time of death of a covered Railroad employee. Generally speaking, to qualify for benefits an employee must have at least 120 months of creditable railroad service, and a "current connection" at the time of death. Service months need not be consecutive, and in some cases military service may count. Credit for a month of railroad service is given for every month in which an employee has had some compensated service for an employer covered by the Railroad Retirement Act, even if only one day's service is performed during the month.

A railroad employee who worked at least 12 of the preceding 30 months preceding the month his/her Railroad retirement Annuity begins is "currently connected." If the employee dies before retirement, railroad service in at least 12 of the 30 months before death meets the current connection requirement. {A Railroad employee may also meet this requirement with 12 months service in a 30 month period after which there was no employment outside the Railroad industry.}

Full or part-time work for a non-railroad employer after the 30th month and before the date a railroad retirement annuity starts (or the date of death, if earlier) can break a current connection. If a deceased employee does not qualify under the terms above, survivors should look to the Social Security Administration for payment of benefits.

Also, survivors of Railroad employees may be entitled to claim two types of lump-sum death benefits. A lump-sum death benefit for burial expenses is payable to certain survivors (those not immediately eligible for monthly benefits) of employees with a current connection and 10 or more years of creditable service. A residual lump-sum benefit is payable to survivors or designated beneficiaries of railroad employees with service prior to 1975 (essentially a refund of an employee's pre-1975 payroll taxes plus an adjustment for interest).