It is important to designate beneficiaries for all of your insurance and retirement accounts that require them. If you don’t, state laws may cause death benefits to be distributed differently than you had planned, may result in additional taxes, and may unnecessarily delay the process of finalizing payment to your loved ones. You should regularly review and, if necessary, update your beneficiary designations.

For your UT Benefits group term life and AD&D insurance (which you receive even if you only have the basic coverage), you can review your current beneficiary information by contacting Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Life and AD&D Customer Service at (866) 628-2606 (available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. central time) If you have not designated a beneficiary or you need to revise your designation, you will need to login to the My UT Benefits to designate your beneficiary or make a change.

If you are a member of the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), you should download the TRS beneficiary designation form and return the form directly to TRS. For more information, go to the TRS website at  https://www.trs.texas.gov/ or call 1-800-223-8778.

If you are a participant in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP), or the voluntary UTSaver Tax-Sheltered Annuity (TSA) or UTSaver Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP), you should always be sure that a current beneficiary is on file for each of these retirement accounts. You can download the appropriate beneficiary designation form and return the completed form directly to your specific retirement provider. For more information, please go to https://www.utsystem.edu/offices/employee-benefits/ut-retirement-program/approved-providers.