Does anyone operate their Group Life Assurance Scheme on a Trustee basis? When claims are agreed by our Insurer they are paid into our Trust bank account and then it's up to our Trustees to agree, based on recommendations made by me, who the beneficiaries are that should receive the payment/s. We don't have any specific guidance for the Trustees to outline their responsibilities and was wondering if anyone has anything that we could use?
When we've had to deal with this, we'll ask for a copy of the Will if there is one or copy of grant of probate/letters of administration, ask the person we're liaising with to list out immediate family members (typically, partner/spouse and children: name, date of birth, relationship to the deceased) and anyone financially dependent on the deceased (such as a parent, sibling again asking for name, date of birth/age and relationship. If you're advised there is someone financially dependent, you'll want to gather more info around this) - you may also want to ask for birth/marriage/CP certificates at this point. We may also speak to the line manager/colleagues we know the individual was close to get any insights if it's not a straight forward case.
If you've used a broker to obtain the insurance, might be worth asking if they have something on the information the trustees should gather.
Happy to have a call to discuss further if you'd like.
Same as Guy really, some of our higher earners are in an EGLS structured life assurance plan. We don't specify any guidance but do require that everybody sets up a beneficiary and wishes, should the policy become payable.
We are in the same situation. I have been asked to put together a recommendation process on how we identify who are the most suitable beneficiary/ies when we make a recommendation to the Trustees. I am struggling to get a robust proposition on what documentation/Information we rely on if an employee has not completed an expression of wish form with the company.
Happy to chat about our process so far if you would like.
We have an almost identical arrangement and like yourselves, we don't have any guidance for the Trustees, we just apply our best judgement as a group. Fortunately, in most cases it's incredibly straightforward. Sorry not to have any really helpful answers there!