Department of Employee Trust Funds
April 8, 2008

“Standard Sequence” for Beneficiary Designation Changed

If you have never filed a beneficiary designation form with the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF), or if all of your named beneficiaries die before you, your beneficiaries will be determined under what is known as statutory “standard sequence.”

A law change, which took effect April 5, 2008, made the statutory standard sequence more consistent with other state laws used to determine a decedent’s heirs. If your beneficiaries are determined under standard sequence, death benefits will be paid in equal shares to the beneficiary(ies) in the lowest-numbered group.

For all deaths that occur on or after April 5, 2008, the new standard sequence is as follows:

1. Surviving spouse
2. Children*
3. Grandchildren**
4. Parents
5. Siblings***
6. Estate

* If one of your children dies before you, that child’s share is divided between the deceased child’s children.
** If one of your grandchildren dies before you, that grandchild’s share is divided between the deceased grandchild’s children.
*** If one of your siblings dies before you, that sibling’s share is divided between the deceased sibling’s children.

For more information, contact ETF Toll Free at 1-877-533-5020
or (608) 266-3285 or via e-mail.