Designate Your Beneficiary
Most people don’t like to think about death while they’re still working, but from a pension perspective, it’s important to have your paperwork in order in case you pass away before you retire. If that happens, pension legislation dictates a specific order of entitlement for who might receive your STRP death benefit. It looks like this:
- Spouse at date of death
- Designated beneficiary(ies) (if you have no legal spouse, or your spouse has waived entitlement)
- Your estate
WHO IS YOUR SPOUSE?
That may seem like a silly question to which you know the answer, but pension legislation has a very specific definition of spouse. A spouse is:
- A person who is married to you; or
- If you are not married, a person with whom you are cohabiting with as spouses and who has been cohabiting continuously with you as your spouse for at least one year.
This means that a legal spouse will always take precedence over a common-law spouse, even if you and your legal spouse having been living separate and apart, and you have been living with a new common-law spouse.
Whether you have a spouse or not, it’s important that you have named beneficiaries for your STRP pension. If you don’t have one or more beneficiaries designated, then any pre-retirement death benefit not paid to a spouse will be paid to your estate. Settling an estate can be time-consuming and costly, reducing the benefit your beneficiaries may get from your STRP death benefits. If you designate beneficiaries with the STRP, any death benefit would automatically be paid to them directly by the Plan, avoiding your estate all together. This ensures your benefit goes to the people you choose faster and with less hassle, and reduces probate and estate fees.
Designating your beneficiaries is easy. Simply complete the STRP Beneficiary Designation form available on our website and send it in to our office. You can update your designation as often as you’d like and can designate anyone you’d like to receive the benefit, including charitable organizations.
Contact the STRP by phone at 1-800-667-7762 or by email at [email protected] if you have any questions or need help filling out the form.