Marriage rates (i.e., the fraction of the population assumed married) can reflect the likelihood of an active participant being married at the date of decrement, the date of the plan member’s death or, for deferred Payment Forms, the date of commencement.

See also Attribution -- pension modes, Payment Form Definitions – pension modes, Payment Form Definitions – OPEB mode, Inactive Payment Form - pension modes and Post-decrement Death Benefit payment form (e.g., U.S. REA benefit), which discuss use of marriage rates, and the Other Valuation Parameters topic of Valuation Assumptions.

The probability of being married, aka fraction married, may be constant (i.e., all members have the same probability of receipt of this benefit) or may vary by age and/or sex. Varying marriage rates are entered in a table with an interface that permits variation by age and/or sex. If marriage rates are constant, then it is not necessary to create fraction married tables.

ProVal looks up table values based on the member’s age, as defined by the date of birth (or attained age) parameter of the Census Specifications. Age for table lookups is always computed as a whole number (not a fraction). For details, see Active Data, Inactive Data - pension modes. For a Payment Form whose commencement is deferred (i.e., payments do not start immediately upon decrement), ProVal will look up values using age at decrement, age at commencement or age at death, depending on the setting of the Beneficiary determined parameter of the Payment Form.

If you are coding a Core Projection, Projection Assumptions (as well as Valuation Assumptions) may refer to fraction married tables.