Most employees fill out their designation of beneficiary forms when they first start working for the federal government; however, many fail to update these forms as major life events occur. Marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, or the death of a family member could make an important difference when it comes to designating or updating beneficiary forms.

In the event of a federal employee's death, the government disburses benefits according to the beneficiary designation forms of record, regardless of life event changes that may have taken place. When an employee has failed or forgotten to complete a beneficiary designation form, death benefits are distributed according to the legal "order of precedence." So if you haven't thought about updating your beneficiary form, now may be the time to do it.

You may designate beneficiaries for the following: Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), unpaid compensation (e.g., last pay check, annual leave balances), Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Several of the forms are filed in the employee's official personnel file (OPF); the CSRS beneficiary form is filed with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the TSP beneficiary form is filed directly with TSP (see below).

FEGLI SF-2823	UNPAID COMPENSA-TION SF-1152	FERS SF-3102	CSRS SF-2808	TSP TSP-3
Filed in OPF			Filed with OPM	Filed with TSP
Send newly completed form to your Servicing personnel office			Send newly completed form to: U.S. OPM, Retirement Operations Center, P.O. Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017-0045	Send only TSP-3 to: Thrift Savings Plan Service Office, National Finance Center, P.O. Box 61135, New Orleans, LA 70161

If you're not confident that the appropriate forms are on file, or you're not sure they reflect your current wishes, the smart thing to do is to complete new forms and submit them to the appropriate address. You can access the first four forms above at www.opm.gov/forms/html/sf.asp. For TSP forms, go to www.tsp.gov.

If I retire, will I be required to complete new designation forms? No, your beneficiary designations will remain valid.