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Guides · Updated August 28, 2026

Federal Beneficiary Designation Checklist: Forms & Filing

Federal beneficiary designation checklist: which form covers FEGLI, TSP, FERS or CSRS, and unpaid pay, where to file it, and how to confirm it was recorded.

Each federal benefit uses its own beneficiary form. FEGLI, TSP, your retirement contributions, and any unpaid compensation each rely on a separate designation, and TSP manages its own designation process, as the CSRS and FERS Handbook confirms. When a valid designation, signed, witnessed, and received before your death, is on file for a specific benefit, it generally controls that benefit's payout, even if your will says something different (5 C.F.R. § 843.205; 5 CFR § 1651.3). This guide offers general information, not legal or financial advice.

This federal beneficiary designation checklist matters if you're a current, separating, or retired federal employee, especially after an agency transfer, a break in service, a marriage, a divorce, or a death in the family. Any of those events can leave an old form standing while your wishes have changed. If the benefit-specific default order of precedence already matches what you want, no filing is required. The exact order is set separately for each benefit; a simplified example can include a spouse, children, parents, an executor or administrator of the estate, and next of kin. Working through each benefit now, one form at a time, can reduce the chance that an outdated designation controls payment.

Which forms do you need to file, and how do you get each one right?

  1. Name your FEGLI beneficiary on SF 2823

    SF 2823 controls who receives your Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance payout. List primary and, if you want, contingent beneficiaries, then have two people who aren't beneficiaries witness your signature.

  2. Name your FERS beneficiary on SF 3102

    The SF 3102 form controls any lump-sum FERS retirement contributions payable after your death. Type or print each beneficiary's full name, assign a percentage share if you name more than one so the shares total 100 percent, and sign in front of two witnesses. Retain proof of submission.

  3. Name your CSRS beneficiary on SF 2808

    If any part of your service falls under CSRS, use SF 2808 instead of SF 3102 for your lump-sum CSRS contributions.

  4. Name a beneficiary for unpaid compensation on SF 1152

    SF 1152 controls your final pay and unpaid compensation if you die while employed. This form is separate from FEGLI and retirement, so it needs its own designation even if your other forms are current.

  5. Set your TSP beneficiaries

    Log in to My Account at tsp.gov to name a person, people, your estate, or a trust to receive your TSP balance. TSP pays out only whatever designation is on file there at your death, not a will or any other document, so revisit My Account whenever your situation changes to confirm it still reflects who you want.

  6. Run a completion check before you submit anything

    On SF 2823, SF 3102, SF 2808, and SF 1152, name a primary beneficiary and add contingent beneficiaries if you want backups. Fill in each beneficiary's identifying details. Your TSP designation is started in My Account and follows TSP's own electronic signature, dating, and one-witness process.

  7. Confirm the designation was recorded

    For a retirement contribution designation, retain the validated copy OPM returns for your records. For agency-held FEGLI (SF 2823) and unpaid-compensation (SF 1152) forms, ask HR or your servicing personnel office for a date-stamped copy or written confirmation, then keep it with your records. Review your TSP designation in My Account to confirm what is on file.

  8. Check each benefit after a status change

    A new retirement contribution designation cancels the prior one, and a paid refund of FERS or CSRS retirement contributions cancels the designation. If you move from CSRS coverage to FERS coverage, file a fresh SF 3102 instead of assuming an older SF 2808 still applies. For FEGLI and unpaid compensation, ask the office holding the form to confirm the record after an agency transfer, break in service, or move into retirement. For TSP, review My Account: TSP pays the person on record even if you are separated, and a divorce or remarriage does not change that designation unless you make a new one.

  9. Decide whether you need to file at all

    Filing a designation is optional. If you are satisfied with the statutory order of precedence for each benefit, such as spouse, then children, then parents, then estate, you can leave it in place and skip the paperwork.

  10. Set a trigger for reviewing every designation at once

    Marriage, divorce, remarriage, a birth, or a death in the family does not automatically update any of these forms. Treat any of those events as a cue to check FEGLI, FERS or CSRS, unpaid compensation, and TSP together, since each one only changes when you file a new form. This checklist covers general federal paperwork steps, not legal or financial advice for your specific situation. If you're separating for a private-sector role, FedUp.work's transition planning resources can help once your paperwork is confirmed.

Common questions about federal beneficiary designations

If my will names someone different, does that override the beneficiary I have on file?

No. For a TSP account or a CSRS lump-sum death benefit, a properly completed and filed designation controls payment for that benefit instead of a different instruction in a will. See TSP's death-benefits guidance and the CSRS Handbook.

Who gets paid if I never file a CSRS beneficiary designation?

For a CSRS lump-sum death benefit with no valid designation, the order starts with a surviving widow or widower, then children, with a deceased child's share going to that child's descendants, then parents. If none of those people survive, payment goes to the executor or administrator of the estate, then to next of kin under the law of the deceased person's domicile. The CSRS Handbook sets out this order.

Sources and further reading

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