As an ASRS retiree, keeping your beneficiary designations up to date is an essential part of managing your pension. However, the impact of these designations varies significantly depending on the annuity option you selected at the time of your retirement. For some, a change in beneficiary is a simple record update; for others, it can lead to a recalculation of your monthly benefit.
Please identify your specific annuity type—Straight Life, Term Certain, or Joint and Survivor—and refer to the section below that pertains to your account to understand how a beneficiary change may affect your monthly pension benefit.
Straight Life Annuity Recipients
As a retiree receiving a Straight Life Annuity, you have the flexibility to change your primary or secondary beneficiaries at any time. These changes do not impact your monthly pension amount.
Most retirees receive their total personal contribution balance within the first 6 to 8 years of retirement. Once this balance is exhausted, there is no remaining money to be paid out to a beneficiary upon your passing.
Term Certain Annuity Recipients (5, 10, or 15-year)
If you pass away before your selected 5, 10, or 15-year term ends, your beneficiary will receive your monthly payment for the remainder of that period. You may change your beneficiaries during this time with no impact to your monthly pension amount.
Once the term ends, your benefit automatically converts to a Straight Life Annuity. Your monthly payment will increase, but the guaranteed monthly payments for a beneficiary end; a beneficiary would only be eligible for a one-time, lump-sum payment if a balance of your personal contributions and interest still remains in your account.
Straight Life and Term Certain: How to Change Your Beneficiary
Because of the potentially irrevocable nature and lifetime benefit impact of this process, a Beneficiary Change form (PDF) is required to be submitted to the ASRS for any and all retiree beneficiary changes. To process a change to your annuity or beneficiary designation, you must submit:
- A certified death certificate of the deceased beneficiary (if applicable).
- A notarized Notarized Beneficiary Change form (PDF).
- Proof of birth date for the new beneficiary (if naming a new contingent annuitant).
- A court-issued divorce decree or QDRO (if the change is due to a divorce rather than death).
FAQs
Does a secondary beneficiary automatically become my primary beneficiary if the primary passes away?
If my Joint & Survivor contingent annuitant passes away, will my benefit increase automatically?
Can I name a new Joint & Survivor contingent annuitant after my original one has passed?
Are there age limits for naming a new beneficiary or contingent annuitant?
Beneficiary vs Contingent Annuitant: what's the difference?
While both are designated to receive benefits after a retiree passes away, they apply to different types of pension payout options:
Beneficiary: This is a person designated to receive a potential one-time, lump-sum payout of any remaining balance in your account after you pass away.
Example: If you choose a Straight Life Annuity and pass away before your total account balance has been paid out, the remaining balance goes to your named beneficiary.
Contingent Annuitant: This is a person designated to continue receiving ongoing, lifetime monthly annuity payments after you pass away.
Example: If you choose a Joint and Survivor Annuity, you will name a contingent annuitant who will receive a specified lifetime monthly benefit for the rest of their life after you pass away.
I am a Straight Life or Term Certain retiree. Does changing my beneficiary affect my monthly check?
What happens if I don't have a beneficiary on file when I pass away?
How do I start the process of updating my beneficiary or contingent annuitant?
Joint and Survivor Annuity Recipients
If you elected a Joint and Survivor annuity at retirement, changes to your contingent annuitant can substantially affect your monthly pension benefit. (See the "Beneficiary vs Contingent Annuitant" FAQ below to better understand the "contingent annuitant" terminology.)
Joint and Survivor retirees are free to change and update their contingent annuitant at any time, but changing your contingent annuitant DOES trigger a recalculation of your monthly benefit based on the age of your new contingent annuitant. (Note: if you are married and naming a contingent annuitant that is not your spouse, you will also need to provide a spousal consent form during the process.)
- Recalculation: Your benefit will be adjusted based on your current age and the age of your new contingent annuitant.
- Age Restrictions: If naming a non-spouse contingent annuitant, specific age and eligibility criteria may apply based on IRS regulations and ASRS statutes.
- Impact on Monthly Payment: Naming a significantly younger or older contingent annuitant will result in a further reduction or an increase in your monthly payment.
If Your Contingent Annuitant Passes Away
Timely reporting is essential! Depending on your retirement date, you may have the option of rescinding your Joint and Survivor annuity selection and moving forward with a Straight Life annuity, should you want to. This would likely increase your monthly pension benefit. You could also decide to stay with a Joint and Survivor annuity and name a new primary contingent annuitant.
Important: Changes to your annuity are not retroactive. The effective date of any benefit adjustment is the day the ASRS receives all required completed documentation.
Updating Designations: A secondary contingent annuitant does not automatically become the primary contingent annuitant. You must actively submit a request to name a new contingent annuitant.
If Your Retirement Date was On or After 7/1/2008
Retirees with a Joint and Survivor annuity type who have a retirement date on or after 7/1/2008 are only able to rescind back to a Straight Life annuity ONCE, and it must be due to death or divorce of the primary contingent annuitant.
Joint & Survivor: How to Change Your Contingent Annuitant
Because of the potentially irrevocable nature and lifetime benefit impact of this process, a Rescind and Revert form (PDF) is required to be submitted to the ASRS for any and all retiree contingent annuitant changes. To process a change to your annuity or contingent annuitant designation, you must submit:
- A certified death certificate of the deceased contingent annuitant (if applicable).
- A notarized Notarized Rescind and Revert form (PDF).
- Proof of birth date for the new contingent annuitant (if naming a new contingent annuitant).
- A court-issued divorce decree or QDRO (if the change is due to a divorce rather than death).
We are happy to provide you with an estimate prior to naming a new contingent annuitant. Simply send us a secure message from your myASRS account with details of the request along with the birthdate of the new potential contingent annuitant. This allows you to see the potential impact to your benefit prior to making the change official.
