As I understand, too, usually defined employer pensions are reduced if the employee chooses to include their spouse as a recipient upon their death. Some defined employer pensions may have limitations on how long they continue paying retirement benefits to a surviving spouse.
The baseline with my pension is my wife would get 60% if I died before her. I was able to increase that amount to the maximum of 70% at a cost of
$14.00 a month, so to me it was a no-brainer, as she will get that amount for the rest of her life.
