Some years ago, a man lost his wife and applied to the Teachers’ Retirement System for the death benefit. TRS checked the beneficiary form on file and discovered that, long before this couple’s marriage, the woman had named her sister as her beneficiary in the event of her death.

The man did his best to persuade his sister-in-law that he was entitled to the death benefit and ultimately took her to court. But the court ruled against him saying the wife’s intentions could not be assumed and the paperwork was clear.

This story illustrates how important it is that every member of TRS review and update beneficiary forms after a marriage, the birth of children, a divorce or any change in familial circumstances.

TRS must pay the death benefit to the person(s) designated on your beneficiary form. For most members who have three or more years of credited service, the benefit is three years’ salary plus the member’s contributions to the pension system and any money saved in the Annuity Savings Accumulation Fund as well as the Tax-Deferred Annuity.

Not only do people forget to update their beneficiary forms, nearly 27,000 in-service TRS members have not filed one with TRS. If any one of these members die, the survivors will have to go through a lengthy legal process to claim their benefits. We doubt very much that anyone wants New York State deciding who should get the money.

This is what you need to do: You must file a designation of beneficiary form with TRS for the Qualified Pension Plan, as well as a separate one for the Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA). You can easily do this online if you register to obtain access to the secure section of the retirement system’s website at TRSNYC.org.

If you are not sure whether you have named a beneficiary, you can find that information on your Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) or your Quarterly Account Statement (QAS) sent to you by TRS.

By the way, almost every one of the union’s 52,122 retirees has filed a beneficiary form for the Tax-Deferred Annuity accounts, but if you’re one of the 181 who has not, we urge you to do so at once.

Proof of birth date

All TRS members must file with TRS specific proof of their birthdates. The following are considered acceptable documentation:

• Birth certificate
• Passport
• Naturalization document

If you do not have one of these three items, you can also submit any two of the following items:

• Baptismal certificate
• Certificate of military record
• Driver’s license
• Government-issued identification
• Life insurance policy