What to do when a Great American Life account holder dies

A trust that will hold an inherited contract files the See-Through Trust Certification (Form X6057518NW) along with the Annuity Claim Form. It requires the trustee to certify that the trust is valid and irrevocable, to list the primary trust beneficiaries with dates of birth, and to check one of four categories: conduit trust, accumulation trust distributing no later than age 31, other accumulation trust (which must list the remainder beneficiaries), or distributing trust. The deadline matters: the certification must be a final and complete list of trust beneficiaries as of September 30 of the year following the year of death for an inherited IRA, or nine months after the date of death for an inherited non-qualified annuity. Because the SECURE Act sets the payout window (Ten Year Rule, or life expectancy payments for an Eligible Designated Beneficiary), the trust's category is what determines whether the beneficiaries can stretch payments or must liquidate.

The Annuity Claim Form for a deferred contract (Form ANN-K2655017NW) forces a single, final election that cannot be changed or revoked. The options are: Successor Owner, available only if the sole beneficiary is the surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner - the survivor takes over the contract, names new beneficiaries, and any guaranteed withdrawal or death benefit rider continues unless terminated in writing (a claimant age 95 or older must instead take a lump sum or annuitize); Lump Sum, paid by check, to a brokerage account, or as a direct rollover / transfer / 1035 exchange to an inherited IRA or inherited non-qualified contract with a letter of acceptance from the receiving company; or Stream of Payments. Because the election is irrevocable, get tax advice before signing. If the contract was already annuitized, no death benefit is payable at all unless the contract carried a period certain or refund feature, and the claim runs on Form ANN-K2655417NW instead. You can take the choice away from a beneficiary in advance: the Restricted Death Benefit Election on Form X1053406NW lets the OWNER lock a beneficiary into a life payout or a 5-20 year fixed period, and MassMutual Ascend states that restricted payments cannot be assigned, pledged, or encumbered by the beneficiary and are not subject to creditors' claims or legal process - a spendthrift result without a trust. Two limits: the form may not be used to restrict a spouse beneficiary, and on a qualified contract the fixed period cannot run more than 10 years past the owner's death.

Report the death online at myannuity.massmutualascend.com/deathclaim or call 800-854-3649 for an annuity (888-863-5891 for life insurance). Have the policy number - legacy Great American Life numbers still work - or the deceased's Social Security number, full name, and date of death. MassMutual Ascend then mails a claim packet to every listed beneficiary. Two things routinely stall payment. First, the claim is not processed until ALL beneficiaries return their completed forms, so a single unresponsive co-beneficiary holds up everyone. Second, the certified death certificate must arrive by MAIL at P.O. Box 5420, Cincinnati, OH 45201-5420 - a faxed or emailed copy is not accepted, even though the rest of the paperwork can go by fax (513-412-5122), email (ClaimDocs@mmascend.com), or secure upload at securecontact.massmutualascend.com. Original signatures are required; digital signatures are rejected. Once everything is in from every beneficiary, most claims are processed in 5-10 business days.