Choosing Beneficiaries

What you should know about beneficiaries

All ASRS members, whether active, in-active or retired, should have a designated beneficiary on file.

A beneficiary is an individual, institution, trustee or estate which receives, or may become eligible to receive, benefits from a member’s retirement plan annuity or account balance. The beneficiary who is or may be entitled to a pension annuity or other certain benefits is also referred to as a “contingent annuitant.”

All ASRS members who have not yet retired have a Survivor Benefit as part of their ASRS benefits. If the member dies prior to becoming eligible for a retirement benefit, the beneficiary will receive a survivor benefit that is two times the member’s account balance, plus accumulated interest.

Under Joint and Survivor options selected at the time of retirement, the surviving beneficiary is entitled to receive the pension benefit for their lifetime upon the death of the retired member.

Designating a beneficiary

There exist some primary rules for designating beneficiaries of your benefits after your death:

• Spousal Consent Legislation: ASRS members who are married are required to name their spouse as a primary beneficiary with at least 50 percent of the benefit. The law provides for a waiver of this requirement if the ASRS receives a notarized signature from the spouse waiving rights to a portion of the ASRS benefit. When you submit your retirement application, change your beneficiary, or if you pass away and before any survivor benefits are paid, the ASRS will review your account to ensure compliance with the law.

  Spousal Consent Form

• All members must designate at least one primary beneficiary. More than one primary beneficiary may be designated, but the total of the primary beneficiaries’ shares must equal 100 percent.
• Naming a secondary beneficiary is optional as well. Should the primary beneficiary, or all beneficiaries, predecease you, any remaining eligible benefits will be paid to the named secondary beneficiary. Again, more than one secondary beneficiary may be named, but shares must equal 100 percent.
• Members may also designate a trust or organization to receive any benefits upon your death, either as a primary or secondary beneficiary. Under this option, instead of providing a Social Security number (as required for individual beneficiaries) you must provide a Tax Identification number.

Keep your beneficiary(ies) updated!

It is important that you, the member, keep the ASRS informed of any changes related to your beneficiaries, such as address changes, deaths or changes in relationships. Also, divorce automatically nullifies a beneficiary selection of the spouse. A member may re-name the divorced spouse if they choose.

Members may change their beneficiary – primary or secondary – at any time prior to your death. There may be restrictions for retired members who change their beneficiary, which may affect the amount of the annuity. Any change will only become official after the ASRS processes a Beneficiary request.

Statutory order, if no valid beneficiary designated

If a deceased member did not designate a beneficiary or the beneficiary named by a member predeceases the member, the ASRS will follow state statutes, which provide for eligible benefits to be paid to the following
persons, in order of priority:
1) The member’s surviving spouse.
2) The member’s surviving children, including adopted children, in equal shares.
3) The member’s surviving parents, in equal shares.
4) The member’s estate.