Notarizing OPM Forms for FERS & CSRS Retirement

Retiring from federal service means filing a specific stack of forms with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — and several of them require a notary. This guide covers SF 3107 (FERS application for immediate retirement), SF 3107-2 (FERS spousal consent), SF 2801 (CSRS application for immediate retirement), SF 2801-2 (CSRS spousal consent), and SF 2818 (former spouse survivor annuity election), plus how to get each one notarized online without traveling back to your former agency HR office.

If you are separating from federal service, already separated, or on a deferred retirement, read this end-to-end before you sign anything. The single most common reason OPM returns a retirement package is a mismatch between the main application and the spousal consent — and it costs weeks.

The OPM forms that need a notary

Federal civilian retirement runs on two systems: FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System, for employees hired after 1983) and CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System, for longer-tenured federal employees). Each system has its own application packet.

FERS packet

• SF 3107 — Application for Immediate Retirement (FERS). The main form. Declares your retirement date, annuity election, and survivor election.
• SF 3107-2 — Spouse's Consent to Survivor Election. Required whenever a married FERS retiree elects anything less than the maximum survivor annuity. The spouse's signature must be notarized.
• SF 3107 Schedules A, B, C — military service, LEO/firefighter/ATC service, and FERS-covered federal employment details. Generally do not require notarization, but agency HR may ask for certified documentation.

CSRS packet

• SF 2801 — Application for Immediate Retirement (CSRS). The CSRS equivalent of SF 3107.
• SF 2801-2 — Spouse's Consent to Survivor Election (CSRS). Same role as SF 3107-2. Spouse's signature must be notarized.
• SF 2801 Schedules A, B, C — parallel to the FERS schedules.

Cross-system

• SF 2818 — Election to Provide a Former Spouse Survivor Annuity. Used when a retiree elects an annuity for a former spouse, either voluntarily or pursuant to a court order. Requires notarization.
• SF 3107-4 / SF 2801-3 — Certified Summary of Federal Service. Agency-certified; no notary needed from the employee.

Who signs what, and in front of whom

• SF 3107 / SF 2801 — the retiree signs. The spousal acknowledgment section within the main form does not require a notary, but the spouse must sign it when survivor election is less than maximum.
• SF 3107-2 / SF 2801-2 — the spouse is the signer. A notary witnesses the spouse's signature. The retiree does not sign this form.
• SF 2818 — the retiree is the signer. A notary witnesses the retiree's signature.

The distinction matters for RON: the person who appears on the video call with government-issued ID is whoever is signing that specific form. For the spousal consent, that is the spouse — not the retiree.

Why the spousal consent is the high-stakes form

Congress built federal retirement around a default of lifetime survivor income for the spouse. Under law, the default annuity for a married FERS or CSRS retiree is a reduced annuity with maximum survivor benefit (50% for FERS, 55% for CSRS). To elect anything else — a self-only annuity, a smaller survivor percentage, or a different beneficiary — the spouse must consent in writing, with a notary as the disinterested witness.

OPM treats the spousal consent as a legal waiver of lifetime income. That is why the form is:

• Separate from the main application
• Required to be notarized (not merely witnessed)
• Required to state the specific survivor election being waived
• Rejected outright if any field is blank or inconsistent

SF 2818 and former spouse annuities

If a divorce decree or court-approved property settlement gives a former spouse a survivor annuity, SF 2818 is how you make that election with OPM. It also requires notarization. File it within the window specified by OPM (generally tied to the date of final decree or date of retirement, whichever applies — confirm the current deadline on the form instructions or with OPM).

Where to get the forms

Download current, unaltered PDFs from OPM.gov or through eRetire, OPM's online retirement application portal. Do not use a form pulled from a third-party site — the layout may be out of date and OPM may reject it. Active employees with eRetire access can generate pre-filled forms based on their service record, which dramatically reduces the odds of a data entry error.

Submission path: agency HR vs. direct-to-OPM

Where the notarized packet goes depends on your employment status at the time of filing.

• Currently employed. Submit the full retirement packet to your agency HR office (or Shared Services Center). HR certifies your service history, completes the Certified Summary of Federal Service, and forwards the packet to OPM. Do not mail your own forms directly to OPM while you are still on the rolls.
• Already separated. If you separated without filing (for example, taking a deferred retirement or filing after a resignation), submit the packet directly to OPM at the address on the form instructions. Your former agency will still need to provide service records, but you are the one filing.
• Disability retirement. Routed through the agency while employed; routed through OPM if filed more than 30 days after separation. Different form (SF 3112 packet) and different notarization requirements — outside the scope of this post.

For separated retirees who no longer live near their former agency, RON is especially valuable: you do not need to find a notary in your old duty station's time zone or mail originals back and forth.

Timing, interim annuity, and the retirement date

OPM processing times are not instant. Cases commonly take several weeks and can extend longer during backlog periods or when a package needs correction. To cushion the gap, OPM typically issues an interim annuity — a partial payment at an estimated rate — while your case is adjudicated. Once OPM finalizes your case, you receive the full monthly amount plus any retroactive true-up.

• Confirm current OPM processing times with OPM directly or your agency HR office. Do not rely on numbers from old forum posts; the backlog moves.
• File early. Many HR offices accept the retirement packet 60–90 days before your retirement date. Filing early gives OPM lead time and gives you buffer to correct any returned forms without missing the retirement date.
• Keep copies of everything, including the sealed notarized PDFs and the notary's audit certificate.

Step-by-step: getting this notarized online

1. Pull the current forms from OPM or eRetire

Log into eRetire if your agency participates, or go to OPM.gov and download the current SF 3107 / SF 2801 packet and SF 3107-2 / SF 2801-2. If SF 2818 applies, download that too. Confirm you have the latest revision — OPM sometimes updates forms and older revisions get rejected.

2. Fill in every field before the session

Both retiree and spouse legal names (matching IDs exactly), SSNs, service computation dates, annuity election, survivor percentage, and beneficiary designations. Double-check that the survivor election on the main form matches SF 3107-2 / SF 2801-2 exactly. Do not sign. The signature must occur live on the RON session.

3. Book a RON session with the right signer on camera

For SF 3107-2 or SF 2801-2, the spouse must be the one on camera with a valid government-issued photo ID. For SF 2818, the retiree is on camera. If you need multiple forms notarized in the same session (for example, SF 3107-2 signed by spouse and SF 2818 signed by retiree), tell the notary up front — some states require separate signer verification for each.

4. Complete the live audio-video session

During the call the notary will:

• Run credential analysis on the ID and knowledge-based authentication (KBA) questions.
• Confirm the signer understands what they are signing (particularly the survivor benefit being waived).
• Witness each signature and apply a tamper-evident digital seal.
• Journal the act and retain the session recording per state law.

5. Submit the sealed PDFs

Upload the notarized PDFs directly to eRetire, your agency HR office's portal, or OPM — depending on your submission path. Do not print and rescan. Printing strips the cryptographic seal that OPM uses to validate the notarization, and the form will be treated as unnotarized.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Survivor election mismatch. The most common rejection. SF 3107 says one thing, SF 3107-2 says another. Re-read both side-by-side before signing.
• Wrong signer on the spousal consent. The retiree cannot sign SF 3107-2 or SF 2801-2 on the spouse's behalf — even with a POA, OPM generally will not accept it without additional documentation. The spouse signs in person on camera.
• Name variations. Spouse's ID shows a maiden name but the form uses married name (or vice versa). Fix on the form before the session.
• Printing and rescanning the sealed PDF. Destroys the digital seal. Upload the original sealed file.
• Using an obsolete form revision. OPM rejects superseded revisions. Always download the current version the week you file.
• Missing notarization on SF 2818. Easy to overlook because it is a separate standalone form. If you are electing a former spouse annuity, do not skip it.
• Filing directly with OPM while still employed. Current employees route through agency HR. Filing direct creates a paperwork loop and delays adjudication.

Bottom line

OPM retirement paperwork lives or dies on the notarized spousal consent. Match the survivor election across SF 3107 and SF 3107-2 (or SF 2801 and SF 2801-2) down to the exact percentage, get the right signer on camera for each form, and upload the sealed PDFs without rescanning. RON makes this straightforward whether you are still at your desk or already retired and living three time zones from your old agency. U.S. Online Notaries handles FERS, CSRS, and SF 2818 retirement packets every week — book a session and we will have your OPM forms sealed and ready for eRetire in under 15 minutes.