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How (and Why) You Should Review and Update Your Beneficiary Designations
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How (and Why) You Should Review and Update Your Beneficiary Designations
An important (but sometimes overlooked) step in planning for
retirement is to review and update the designation of beneficiaries
to your various federal employee benefits.
Upon your death, who would receive the lump sum payment of your
retirement contributions (if you don't designate a survivor benefit
annuity)?
Who will be the beneficiary to your Thrift Savings
Plan (TSP) and your Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance
(FEGLI)?
Are you sure these designations are up-to-date?
Not keeping
these designations updated could result in unfortunate financial situations
and possible legal disputes for your survivors down the
road.
Over the course of their career, most federal employees have several
life events that may require updating beneficiary
designations. Examples include:
- divorce
- marriage
- birth of a child
- adoption of a child
- death of a family member
If you do not have a designated beneficiary for your TSP, FEGLI, or
the lump sum payment of your retirement contributions, by law those
benefits will automatically be paid in the following order of
precedence:
to your widow or widower
to your child or children in equal shares, with the share of any deceased
child distributed among the descendants of that child
to your parents (or parent)
to the executor or administrator of your estate
if none of the above, to your next of kin who may be entitled under the laws
of the state in which you live at the time of your death.
How do you update your designation of
beneficiaries?
If copies of your previously submitted beneficiary forms are not available, you may want to file a new
designation form. Below is a list of the forms needed to do so (the most
up-to-date forms can be found at http://www.opm.gov/forms/html/sf.asp)
- Your CSRS retirement contributions: Standard Form 2808
- Your FERS retirement contributions: Standard Form 3102
- For unpaid compensation of a deceased civilian federal
employee: Standard Form 1152
- For FEGLI: Standard Form 2823
- For Thrift Savings Plan: Form TSP-3 (found at: www.tsp.gov)
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