Beneficiaries

Overview

A beneficiary receives financial benefits in the event of the insured's death. You can assign beneficiaries to the following Vanderbilt benefits:

• Life Insurance
• Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance (AD&D)
• Retirement

Beneficiaries can be Primary or Contingent (also called Secondary).

• A primary beneficiary is the first person you name to receive the proceeds from your insurance policy upon your death. You can designate 100% of the proceeds to one primary beneficiary or you can divide the proceeds among multiple primary beneficiaries.
• A contingent (or secondary) beneficiary receives the proceeds from your insurance policy only if the primary beneficiary (or beneficiaries) are deceased or do not meet the criteria for the policy.

When adding a dependent in My VU Benefits, if you indicate the relationship as a beneficiary, you will not be able to add them to your benefits as dependents.  All benefits eligible dependents should be added as either your spouse, child, etc., and they can also be added as a beneficiary to your life insurance, voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance and the retirement plans. To have a beneficiary changed to a dependent, contact the Office of People Experience to request the change. Please do not create a new record for this beneficiary, as doing so will create a duplicate record.

How to Designate or Update Your Beneficiaries

You can designate and/or update your beneficiaries at any time during the year. Any changes you make are effective immediately. Note that you can have different beneficiaries for Life Insurance, AD&D, and Retirement.

Basic and Supplemental Life Insurance

1. Go to My VU Benefits.
2. Log in with your VUnetID and Password.
3. Go to the Home navigation link in the top horizontal navigation bar and then select My Beneficiaries from the dropdown menu.
4. You will see your current beneficiaries. You can add a new beneficiary at any time. You also can assign allocation amounts for each beneficiary, for both primary and secondary (also called contingent).
   • To remove a beneficiary, change the percentage for that beneficiary to "0." Then allocate the percentage for the new beneficiary(ies) to equal 100%. Click "Apply to All," and then click "Save."
   • To edit a beneficiary's name, click on that name and the "Edit Beneficiary" dialog box will open. Make your changes and click "Save And Close." Then click "Save" on the page listing your beneficiaries. Note that the system may take a few minutes to display the change. You can make any changes to a beneficiary’s information, but to make changes to a dependent’s birthdate or Social Security number, contact the Office of People Experience.

Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance (AD&D)
By default, your AD&D beneficiaries will be the same as your Life Insurance beneficiaries. If you would like to designate a different beneficiary for AD&D, follow these instructions:

1. Go to My VU Benefits.
2. Log in with your VUnetID and Password.
3. Go to the Home navigation link in the top horizontal navigation bar and then select My Beneficiaries from the dropdown menu.
4. You will see a section for Voluntary Accidental Death and Dismemberment. You can add a new beneficiary or edit allocation amounts for existing beneficiaries.
   • To remove a beneficiary, change the percentage for that beneficiary to "0." Then allocate the percentage for the new beneficiary(ies) to equal 100%. Click "Apply to All," and then click "Save."
   • To edit a beneficiary's name, click on that name and the "Edit Beneficiary" dialog box will open. Make your changes and click "Save And Close." Then click "Save" on the page listing your beneficiaries. Note that the system may take a few minutes to display the change. You can make any changes to a beneficiary’s information, but to make changes to a dependent’s birthdate or Social Security number, contact the Office of People Experience. 

Retirement
Please use the NetBenefits website.