How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at American General

One Change of Beneficiary form can cover several policies when they share the same policy owner and require the same signatures.¹

A trust can be named primary or contingent beneficiary.¹

Corebridge's suggested wording for a living trust is "The Smith Family Trust, dtd 3/3/2013, TIN 99-9999999, Trust, 100%".¹

Corebridge's suggested wording for a testamentary trust is "Sally Smith Testamentary Trust under the Suzie S. Smith Last Will and Testament dtd 1/1/1999, Trust, 100%".¹

Corebridge's suggested wording for the estate is "Estate of the Insured, 100%".¹

Shares must be stated as percentages of the death benefit, never as dollar amounts.¹

Primary beneficiaries must be listed even when only contingent beneficiaries are changing.¹

Every owner and co-owner signs in ink using full legal names. If a trust owns the policy, all trustees sign.¹

An irrevocable beneficiary or assignee must also sign Section E.¹

Available to download.¹

Return to

Completed by the trustees, when a trust owns the policy. Available to download.²

Sent by the institution on request.³

Completed by a business owner. Sent by the institution on request.¹

The designation takes effect as of its date of execution, the day the form was signed, not the day Corebridge receives it.¹

A new designation supersedes every prior designation.¹

If no beneficiary survives the insured and neither the form nor the policy provides otherwise, the proceeds are paid to the policy owner or to the executors or administrators of the policy owner's estate.¹

Under the optional Common Disaster clause, no payment is made to a beneficiary until 30 days (or the state-mandated period) after the insured's death, and a beneficiary who dies in that window is treated as having died first. It does not apply to a trustee.¹

Under the optional Per Stirpes children's clause, if a child named as beneficiary dies before the insured leaving children who survive, that child's share passes in equal shares to those grandchildren.¹

The optional Minor Beneficiary Clause names either a trustee or a UTMA custodian, only one, for the named minor beneficiaries; for UTMA it names the state whose Uniform Transfers to Minors Act applies.¹

If the minor has reached the age of majority or the UTMA termination age when proceeds become payable, the named trustee or custodian is disregarded.¹

The owner warrants that the change is not restricted by any prior agreement, contractual obligation, legal proceeding or court order, including divorce or bankruptcy proceedings, and indemnifies the company if such an obligation later surfaces.¹

For a multi-owner, trust-owned or company-owned policy, the life portal requires the online account authorization form (AGLC201906) before access is granted.³

If the owner lives in, is domiciled in or is sitused in Massachusetts, a non-interested party must witness the Change of Beneficiary form. It is the only state with a witness requirement on the form.¹

For a New York policy, the issuing company to check at the top of the form is The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York.¹

A qualified annuity (an IRA or rollover) cannot be owned by a trust.⁴

Available to download.⁴

Return to

Completed by all currently acting trustees. Available to download.²

The Certification of Trust states that the company does not review trust documents and will administer the policy under its own standard procedures, with no obligation to follow the trust's terms.²

The company may rely on the trustees' instructions and representations and has no responsibility to check them against the authority the trust grants; the trustees indemnify the company.²

All currently acting trustees sign, and they elect on the form whether any trustee may act independently, all must act jointly, or some other arrangement applies.²

Each certification supersedes any previously filed one. A new one must be provided whenever the trust is amended in a way that changes its representations, including a change of trustees.²

A contingent owner may be designated only if the new owner is a natural person, so a trust-owned policy cannot name one.⁴

The Change of Ownership form transfers, assigns and conveys absolutely all incidents of ownership to the new owner. It is not effective until the Service Center approves it, and it remains subject to any assignment already of record.⁴