No pension I know of allows a surviving child to inherit a portion of the pension. Is this some federal benefit I don't know about? If that is right, and a child can receive over half of the pension for his/her lifetime, then we REALLY need to take a look at federal employee benefits.
Again, the survivor benefit is applicable only if he has chosen to accept a reduction in his pension. Now this is only the old restirement scheme. The current scheme gives a small pension AND a social security payment. The social security payment ends with death. The personal account scheme proposed by the president is analogous to the present federal pension scheme.
The surviving spouse could receive a certain percentage of his retirement. I have never heard of a daughter receiving a portion of a federal employees retirement. Not by the old CSR or FERS civil service retirement programs. NSNR