Life Insurance Plan Benefits

An all too common occurrence with ERISA life insurance claims is the denial of benefits to intended beneficiaries. Such an occurrence is often emotionally charged in it follows a loved one’s death, and litigation frequently involves significant time and expense without the guarantee of a successful outcome. This type of litigation can easily be avoided.

Most ERISA plans have a Designation of Beneficiary form that plan participants must complete and return to the plan according to the plan’s instructions. These forms are usually one page documents which request beneficiary contact information and the participant's dated signature. It is not uncommon for a plan to notify participants that beneficiary forms must be resubmitted to the plan even though the information contained in the new forms has not changed from that contained in the prior forms. A participant’s failure to properly complete and return a plan’s beneficiary form upon the plan’s request will often result in the loss of benefits to intended beneficiaries even when beneficiaries are identified in other legal documents. The Supreme Court has held that ERISA plans are not required to look outside of their own documents to determine how life insurance benefits are to be paid. That is, even though beneficiaries may be identified in non-plan documents such as wills, trusts, prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements, those documents will usually not substitute for a plan’s designated beneficiary form. This frequently results in the plan’s payment of benefits to parties other than those intended by the insured participant. Accordingly, it is a good idea for participants to contact their plans on an annual basis and confirm that an acceptable beneficiary form is on file and that it contains the contact information for the intended beneficiaries.

Bruce A. Tischler at the firm of Greene & Tischler, P.A. welcomes the opportunity to assist you with your life insurance benefits.