The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) will pay life insurance benefits in a particular order, set by law:
- If the annuitant or employee assigned ownership of life insurance, OFEGLI will pay benefits in the following order of precedence:
- First to the beneficiary designated by the assignee(s), if any;
- Second, if there is no such beneficiary, to the assignee(s).
- If the annuitant or employee did not assign ownership and there is a valid court order on file, OFEGLI will pay benefits in accordance with that court order.
- If the annuitant or employee did not assign ownership and there is no valid court order on file, OFEGLI will pay benefits in the following order of precedence:
- to the beneficiary designated;
- if there is no such beneficiary, to the widow or widower;
- if none of the above, to the child(ren), with the share of any deceased child distributed among the descendants of that child (a court will usually have to appoint a guardian to receive payment for a minor child);
- if none of the above, to the parents in equal shares or the entire amount to the surviving parent;
- if none of the above, to the executor or administrator of the estate; or
- if none of the above, to the next of kin as determined under the laws of the State where the annuitant or employee lived.
If you are an annuitant, you can
download [119 KB] the Standard Form (SF) 2823, Designation of Beneficiary, and instructions, or contact us and ask that they be sent to you.
You need to keep your designated beneficiaries' addresses current. Failure to do so may mean that your beneficiary cannot be located and therefore benefits will not be paid to that person. The preferred way is to file a new Designation of Beneficiary when a beneficiary's address changes. A new address cannot be added directly to the Designation of Beneficiary form itself, since any cross outs, erasures, or alterations in your form may make it invalid.