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HomeRetiredMilitarynewseventsnewsletterMarch2023 Keeping Your AOP and SBP Beneficiaries Informed and Updated

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#### **Keeping Your AOP and SBP Beneficiaries Informed and Updated**

 An inevitable reality for all of us is that one day we will no longer be there for those we love. For military retirees, there are two ways to leave something behind for your loved ones.•   ** Arrears of Pay (AOP)**: this is the retiree’s **final pay**. The designated beneficiary will be entitled to the Arrears of Pay, which is the **prorated retired pay**from first of the month of death to date of death. •   **Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)**: **If chosen**, SBP provides an ongoing monthly annuity to your beneficiary. For SBP, you must elect coverage and pay the associated premiums to cover your eligible dependent(s).In most cases, the Arrears of Pay will be only the pro-rated amount of your final month’s retirement pay, because by law, your entitlement to retirement pay ends on the date of your death. Once your death is reported, DFAS will reclaim any funds disbursed after the date of your death and audit your account. As mentioned above, the amount of the payment owed to you will then be computed (based on the number of days in the month you were alive) and paid to your AOP beneficiary.Your AOP beneficiary will **need to send us a claim form** to receive this payment. When DFAS is notified of your death, this claim form will be sent in a condolence package to the AOP beneficiary you designated for your account. Unless otherwise noted, the AOP beneficiary for your account will also be the person we contact for assistance in closing your account, so it is important to designate a person you trust to handle your affairs. Failing to designate an AOP beneficiary could cause stress and financial hardship for your loved ones during an already difficult time. If you do not designate an AOP beneficiary, the payment of any money that remains in your retirement account could be greatly delayed.We also suggest you limit the number of your AOP beneficiaries to avoid delays in payment. Remember that the AOP payment is usually less than one month’s pay, and this amount will be divided among all of your designated beneficiaries. Please note that designating a sole beneficiary in your will or Trust does not automatically make that person your AOP beneficiary.  In the days and weeks after your passing, your loved ones will need to notify a number of people and agencies. We try to make the process a bit easier by offering an online notification of death form on our website. Your loved ones can access the online notification form from several different links at the Retired Military & Annuitants area of our website at: **www.dfas.mil/retiredmiitary  **Your loved one(s) can also call our **Customer Care Center** at 800-321-1080. When your loved one(s) has notified us, they will receive a **condolence package** in the mail that will include information and the form to claim Arrears of Pay (SF 1174), as well as the information and form to apply for the Survivor Benefit Plan annuity (DD 2656-7), if you elected to provide it. This package should arrive in the mail within 30 days after we are notified. It’s important for your loved ones to know that they will also need to provide a copy of the certificate of death with these forms.In lieu of a physical check, AOP payments can be direct deposited to a claimant’s bank account. In order to do this, the claimant needs to send a completed Direct Deposit Authorization (DFAS-CL Form 1059) with their SF 1174. This form is available for download from the webpage: **https://www.dfas.mil/retireeaop **We know that taking care of the paperwork after someone passes away is difficult. We want to make the process as easy as possible. DFAS offers a set of tools to make filling out and submitting the SF 1174 (for claiming Arrears of Pay when a retiree passes away) and DD 2656-7 (for claiming the SBP annuity) quicker and easier.For spouses or children of a deceased retiree, the **SF 1174 Form Wizard** will help them fill out the SF 1174 Arrears of Pay form. The Form Wizard will ask a series of questions and fill in the answers in the appropriate areas of the form. When they have finished answering the questions, they can click a button to generate a ready-to-print PDF with the answers.The SF 1174 and Direct Deposit forms can be submitted via the askDFAS online upload tool on DFAS.mil, and instructions on how to complete these steps are available at: **https://www.dfas.mil/RetiredMilitary/survivors/1174RetireeAOP/ **Please note that having an AOP designation does **NOT** entitle the person named as an AOP beneficiary to a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity. A separate SBP election must be made to cover the desired individual for SBP purposes.For the beneficiary of the SBP annuity, the **DD 2656-7 Form Wizard** will assist them in completing the survivor annuity form. The Form Wizard will ask a series of questions and fill in the answers in the appropriate areas of the form. When they have finished answering the questions, they can click a button to generate a ready-to-print PDF with the answers.The DD 2656-7 form and supporting documents can be submitted via the askDFAS online upload tool on DFAS.mil, and instructions on how to complete these steps can be found at: **https://www.dfas.mil/startsbp**You can keep your AOP beneficiary up-to-date by completing the Designation of Beneficiary form (DD 2894) and submitting the signed form to DFAS via mail, fax or the askDFAS online upload tool available on DFAS.mil. Instructions on how to complete the form and manage your AOP designation can be found on the webpage below. We also have a Form Wizard to make filling out this form faster and easier. It is available at: ** ****https://www.dfas.mil/RetiredMilitary/provide/aop/aop-beneficiary/**You may also make changes to your AOP beneficiary(ies) by logging into your myPay account available at **https://mypay.dfas.mil/**. Further instructions on managing your myPay account can be found at:******https://www.dfas.mil/RetiredMilitary/manage/mypay/**To make any necessary changes to your beneficiary(ies) for SBP, you can complete the Survivor Benefit Plan Election Change Certificate (DD 2656-6) and submit the signed form to DFAS via mail, or by using the askDFAS online upload tool available on DFAS.mil. Instructions on how to complete and manage your SBP can be found at: **https://www.dfas.mil/RetiredMilitary/provide/sbp/** 

Page updated Mar 29, 2023 

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