What to do when a Great-West Life account holder dies

Great-West closed the sale of substantially all of its individual life insurance and individual annuity business to Protective Life Insurance Company on June 1, 2019. Transferred policies (BOLI/COLI, single premium life, individual annuities, and closed block life and annuities) are now administered by Protective Life, not Empower. If your contract is an individual life or individual annuity issued before mid-2019, contact Protective Life at https://www.protective.com for service, beneficiary changes, and death claims. Empower retained only the retirement and institutional annuity business (401(k), 403(b), 457(b), IRAs, and in-plan annuity products such as SecureFoundation II).

Yes. Empower accepts a trust as primary or contingent beneficiary on 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Traditional IRA, and Roth IRA accounts; provide the trust name, trust effective date, and EIN (or grantor SSN for a revocable trust). For participants who die on or after January 1, 2020, the SECURE Act generally requires non-spouse beneficiaries to fully distribute inherited retirement accounts within 10 years of the participant's death. A trust beneficiary can qualify for the same 10-year window if it meets the IRS "see-through trust" requirements (identifiable beneficiaries, all individuals, etc.). If the trust does not qualify, the account may be distributed under a less favorable 5-year rule or based on the participant's remaining life expectancy. Coordinate the trust drafting with the beneficiary designation - the designation, not the will, controls.

Empower runs the claim off a mailed or faxed notice, not a portal. Complete the Empower Notification form (https://docs.empower.com/EE/Empower/docs/Death-Notification-Template-Empower.pdf) with the decedent's name, date of birth, date of death, and Social Security number plus your contact information, and send it with a copy of the death certificate to Empower, P.O. Box 173764, Denver, CO 80217-3764 (express: 8515 E. Orchard Rd., Greenwood Village, CO 80111; fax 1-866-633-5212). Account access is restricted as soon as Empower is notified. Empower then confirms the beneficiary of record and mails each beneficiary their claim paperwork. Return it with a certified death certificate, photo ID, and - if a trust is the beneficiary - the trust agreement and a successor-trustee certification. Empower says the process averages about one month. Payout options include an inherited IRA at Empower, installments, a transfer, or a lump-sum check. Call Beneficiary Support Services at 866-442-3888 (weekdays 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. MT) with questions.