§8705 Death Claims; Order of Precedence; Escheat

Summary

When a federal worker with group life or accidental death insurance dies, the money goes to survivors in a set order. First, it goes to the person or people the worker named on a signed, witnessed form filed before death with the employing office (or with the Office of Personnel Management if the person was an annuitant). A beneficiary named only in a will or an unsigned document does not count. If there is no valid named beneficiary, the order is: spouse; then children and their descendants; then parents or the surviving parent; then the executor or administrator of the estate; then other next of kin under the law where the worker lived. If no eligible person files a claim within 1 year, the payer can treat that person as if they died and pay the next in line; that payment prevents others from later claiming it. If no claim and no notice of a claim within 2 years, the Office of Personnel Management may pay whoever it thinks is fairly entitled, and that payment also ends other claims. If nothing is paid within 4 years and no claim is pending, the money goes to the Employees’ Life Insurance Fund. A court decree, order, or court-approved property settlement from a divorce, annulment, or legal separation can change who gets paid, but it must be received by the employing agency or the Office before the worker dies. Changes to such an order need the person’s written consent or a later court modification, and the Office will make rules to handle these situations.