When you die, the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) will pay life insurance benefits in a particular order set by law. To learn more about this and to learn to designate a particular individual or entity, see the following links below:
You need to check with your employing agency.
OPM does not maintain information on FEGLI designations of beneficiary for employees of other agencies. You need to check with the office that maintains your Official Personnel Folder or equivalent at your agency. If you do not know what office that is or how to contact them, please check with your supervisor.
We cannot tell you who your designated beneficiary (if any) is, so please do not email OPM's life insurance office asking this question.
For more information on who will receive life insurance proceeds when an insured person dies, please check out our FAQ pages.
You need to check with OPM's Retirement Office by email at retire@opm.gov or by writing to: OPM Retirement Operations Center, P.O. Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017-0045. They maintain all of your FEGLI records. You will need to provide your retirement claim number (CSA) or social security number.
Please note: Beneficiary records are not maintained online. Your paper retirement file will need to be retrieved from archives in order to send you a copy of the designation OPM has on file for you. This may take a while. Instead, you may wish to complete a new one. Any Designation you submit will supercede what is on file.
Instead of waiting for a copy of a designation of beneficiary (if any), you may wish to simply submit a new form. That form will take precedence over any FEGLI designation form on file, as long as you sign it, have two witnesses sign, and complete the rest of the form properly.
For more information on who will receive life insurance proceeds when an insured person dies, please check out our FAQ pages.
When was the last time you checked your designations of beneficiary? Most employees and annuitants don't realize that they have several designations to keep current. If you don't have a designation on file, then the funds will be distributed according to the order of precedence. That may be OK with you, but maybe it isn't. Worse yet is an out-of-date designation giving the money to someone that you no longer wish to give it to.
Check the order of precedence for each of these funds
If you want benefits paid to someone else or in a different order, you must designate a beneficiary. This could well be vital to your family's future welfare.
All Thrift Savings Plan designations should be sent to the following address:
Thrift Savings Plan Service Office
P.O. Box 385021
Birmingham AL 35238
Use the following two forms to designate who is to receive a lump-sum payment which may become payable under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). These forms do not affect the right of any person who is eligible for survivor annuity benefits.
We recommend that you designate beneficiaries to receive your life insurance benefits. However, if you are happy with the order of precedence, you don't have to do anything.
It is necessary to designate a beneficiary if:
You cannot designate beneficiaries if you have assigned your insurance.