Keep Your Beneficiary Designations Up-to-Date!
July 13, 2015
A beneficiary is the person or persons you designate to receive any benefits payable upon your death. Naming beneficiaries ensures that your assets are distributed according to your wishes after your death.
To protect your beneficiary(ies), review and update your beneficiary designations regularly. You may change your beneficiary designations at any time. Review of your designations for possible changes is especially important when you have experienced a life event, such as the birth or adoption of a child, marriage, divorce, etc. Your assets are distributed according to the Beneficiary designations that you have on file, so it is important to review and make any needed changes whenever your personal circumstances change.
Go to the Benefit Information module in My UW System, and click the “View Benefits Summary Detail” link to see your current benefit enrollments. Contact your benefits office to confirm your coverage and coverage levels.
Beneficiary designation forms and instructions can be found at: https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/formspubs/. Select the “view by type” box and expand the “beneficiary designations” section. Follow the instructions to submit the beneficiary form for each plan. Make sure you keep a copy of each completed beneficiary form for your records. Return completed forms to the address on the form, not to your campus Benefits office. You will receive an acknowledgement from the plan.
If you have Beneficiary Designations on file with the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) for State Group Life Insurance and/or the Wisconsin Retirement System, you may want to check out the Beneficiary Designation webinars scheduled in July. These webinars review the process of correctly completing a designation form for your ETF benefits as well as other related topics. Webinars are scheduled for July 22 and 23. For times and to register visit: Beneficiary Designation webinars. Once on this page, find the Beneficiary Designation webinars in the schedule and click on the date you would like to attend.
If you are unsure of your current beneficiary designations, you may contact your benefit plan directly for this information, or you may simply complete a new beneficiary designation to ensure that your designations are current. Completing a new form is typically the easiest and quickest way to update your designations.
The following plans have a beneficiary designation form:
If you have a Tax-Sheltered Annuity (TSA) or Deferred Compensation account, make sure you review and update your beneficiary designations as needed. Contact the plan directly to update your beneficiary designations or, if you are enrolled in the TSA program, update your beneficiary online.
Source: UW Service Center
Categories: Insurance