Public Employee Press

Beneficiaries can now roll over annuity

Nonspousal beneficiaries may now roll over the annuity of a deceased annuitant instead of taking a lump-sum payment.

Before this change, nonspousal beneficiaries were not allowed to roll over distributions from the DC 37 Annuity Fund Plan. The fund implemented the change to comply with a new pension law.

If a nonspousal beneficiary chooses the rollover option, the DC 37 Annuity Fund Plan will transfer the distribution into an individual retirement account or an individual retirement annuity. The rollover option isn’t available if the distribution is $200 or less.

Beginning this year, annuitants and spouses and former spouses gained anadditional option for rolling over distributions. Instead of transferring a distribution to a traditional IRA, they may roll it over to an existing Roth IRA.

Of the 77,000 union members participating in the DC 37 Annuity Fund Plan, only 20 percent have actually named a beneficiary. To find out how to add a beneficiary, call the plan at 212-815-1888.

DC 37 won the annuity fund in the 1995-2000 economic agreement.