Payment
(Who receives the benefits when you die)

• Who will get my life insurance benefits when I die?
• Will benefits still be payable if I commit suicide?
• Can the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) pay the funeral home from the FEGLI benefits? If so, how is this done?
• Will my beneficiary have to pay income tax on the FEGLI benefits?
• When is interest paid?
• I'll be traveling over a war zone soon, but I'm not in the military and I won't be in combat. Will life insurance benefits still be payable if I die there?

A. When you die, the Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (OFEGLI) will pay life insurance benefits in a particular order, set by law:

• If you assigned ownership of your life insurance, OFEGLI will pay benefits in the following order of precedence: First, to the beneficiary(ies) designated by your assignee(s), if any;
  Second, if there is no such beneficiary, to your assignee(s).
• If you did not assign ownership and there is a valid court order on file, OFEGLI will pay benefits in accordance with that court order.
• If you did not assign ownership and there is no valid court order on file, OFEGLI will pay benefits in the following order of precedence:
  • First, to the beneficiary(ies) you designated;
  • Second, if there is no such beneficiary, to your widow or widower;
  • Third, if none of the above, to your child or children, with the share of any deceased child distributed among descendants of that child (a court will usually have to appoint a guardian to receive payment for a minor child);
  • Fourth, if none of the above, to your parents in equal shares or the entire amount to your surviving parent;
  • Fifth, if none of the above, to the executor or administrator of your estate;
  • Sixth, if none of the above, to your other next of kin as determined under the laws of the State where you lived.

A. Yes. Benefits are payable based on the death of an enrolled individual no matter how the death happened. However, if someone else causes your death, he or she may be excluded from receiving the death benefits.

The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance will not pay Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) benefits in a suicide case since the death is not accidental.

A. Yes. OFEGLI can pay FEGLI benefits to a funeral home if that's what the person entitled to the money wants to happen. Funeral homes have the form to do this.

A. Life insurance proceeds are not considered taxable income for the recipients for personal income tax purposes. Interest paid on FEGLI proceeds is reportable as income for Federal Income tax purposes. You may wish to consult your tax advisor for further advice.

A. The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance pays interest on claims from the date of the insured's death to the date of the payment. OFEGLI pays a maximum of two years worth of interest, even if the time from date of death to date of payment is over two years.

A. First of all, Basic and any Optional insurance is payable no matter where your death occurs.

The only amount in question is the Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage payable under Basic and Option A. AD&D coverage is payable if you receive bodily injuries solely through violent, external, and accidental means (with some exceptions) and if, as a direct result of the bodily injuries, independently of all other causes, and within one year afterwards, you lose your life, limb, or eyesight. One of the exceptions is if your death or loss is caused directly or indirectly by war (declared or undeclared), any act of war, armed aggression, or insurrection, in which you are, at the time bodily injuries are sustained, in actual combat.

The Office of Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance decides whether to pay AD&D only after the death or loss has occurred and after thoroughly studying the facts surrounding the situation. We can't give definitive answers beforehand.