Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement

System Insurance Program System

United States

Office of Personnel Management

Retirement and Insurance Service

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 97-207 Date: September 25, 1997

Subject: Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance: Miscellaneous Changes and

Information

STOCKING OF FORMS: FE-6, FE-6 DEP, AND FE-7

______________________________________________________

 Background Each employing office is required to maintain a supply of FEGLI

forms to meet its anticipated needs. Standard forms are available

from GSA (General Services Administration) supply centers. 

The FE-6 (Claim for Death Benefits) and FE-6 (Statement of

Claim) DEP have been available directly from the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM); the FE-7 (Claim for Accidental

Means Dismemberment Benefits) - available on a case by case

basis only - has been available directly from the Office of Federal

Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI), although some

agencies have continued to request it from OPM.

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 New Procedure Forms FE-6 and FE-6 DEP will no longer be available from

 for Ordering OPM. Agencies must order these two forms directly from

OFEGLI. Also, OPM will no longer accept orders from

agencies for FE-7; that form also will be available only from

OFEGLI.

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 Who Can Order Orders will be accepted from the agency headquarters

Insurance Officer only. Orders will not be accepted from field

installations or personnel offices.

______________________________________________________

 How and Where Orders will be accepted by fax and mail only; no telephone

 to Order orders will be accepted.
Benefits Administration Letter 97-205

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The fax number is 212-578-4491. Send it to Attention: Forms

Ordering Desk.

The mailing address is Office of Federal Employees' Group Life

Insurance, Attention: Forms Ordering Desk, 200 Park Avenue,

New York, NY 10166-0188.

______________________________________________________

 Information OFEGLI will need the form number, the quantity, the shipping

 Needed address, and the point of contact (person's name and phone

number) in case of questions.

Please note that only the FE-6 and FE-6 DEP can be ordered in

quantity. FE-7 is available in single copies only, on a case by

case basis.

 Effective Date The effective date for this new procedure is October 1, 1997.

______________________________________________________________________________

REVISED FE-6 (CLAIM FOR DEATH BENEFITS)

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 Purpose of The form was revised to do away with the NCR paper, which

 Revision resulted in too many illegible signatures on the second copy. The

new version is on "regular" paper, and claimants will be required

to sign both copies. The revised edition is dated June 1997.

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 Can the "Old" YES, previous editions of the FE-6 are still usable. Agencies

 Forms Be Used? should not destroy their existing stock.

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SF 2818 (CONTINUATION OF LIFE INSURANCE COVERAGE)

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 Edition to The SF 2818 was revised last year; the new edition is dated

 Be Used February 1996. Agencies were notified of the revised form by

BAL 96-202, dated April 18, 1996. This BAL stated that

previous editions are not usable.

______________________________________________________
Benefits Administration Letter 97-205

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 Problem It has been brought to our attention that many agencies are still

using the old form. This causes delays in processing retirement

applications.

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 Request Please remind your field installations that they are to throw away

all versions of the SF 2818 except the February 1996 version. 

Other editions are not acceptable. Agencies attempting to use

other editions will create more work for themselves, as well as

cause delays for retiring employees.

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KEEPING DESIGNATIONS CURRENT

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 Problem Many employees file a designation of beneficiary and never think

about it again. Life circumstances may change, and the

designation may no longer reflect the employee's intentions. Or

beneficiaries may move, but employees may not update their

designation form with the current address; then when the

employee (or annuitant) dies, OFEGLI cannot locate the

beneficiary to make payment.

______________________________________________________

 Request Please ask your field installations to remind employees to review

their designations periodically to make sure they reflect the

employee's current intentions and to make sure they contain the

correct address for their beneficiaries.

______________________________________________________________________________

DESIGNATIONS TO A MINOR

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 Definition Under FEGLI, a child is considered a minor until he/she

 of Minor reaches the age of 18, unless the State in which the "minor" lives

has set a lower age; in that case the lower age applies.

______________________________________________________

 Who Gets Paid OFEGLI cannot, by law, pay benefits to a minor.

 if the Employee

 Designates a If an employee designates a minor as his/her beneficiary, there
Benefits Administration Letter 97-205

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 Minor? are three possibilities for payment:

1. Payment will be made to the child's guardian. Please note

that being a child's natural parent does not make a

person the child's guardian. The guardian must be

appointed by a court.

2. If there is no court-appointed guardian, payment may be

made to the child's natural parent(s) IF the benefits are less

than $10,000.

3. If there is no court-appointed guardian (and there are no

plans to appoint one) and benefits are $10,000 or more, the

money will be held in an interest-bearing account, until the

child reaches the age of majority.

______________________________________________________

 Awareness Please ask your field installations to make sure their employees

 Needed are aware of these restrictions on paying a minor when they

make designations.

______________________________________________________________________________

Abby L. Block, Chief

Insurance Policy

 and Information Division