What to do when a ManhattanLife account holder dies

It locks the designation. ManhattanLife's beneficiary change form has an Irrevocable "Yes/No" column, and the instructions state that if you designate an irrevocable beneficiary, that person's witnessed signature is required for ANY future beneficiary change — including removing them. If a policy already has an irrevocable beneficiary, you cannot change your beneficiaries at all without obtaining their signature first. This matters in divorce, where an ex-spouse was often made irrevocable under a decree: the policy owner cannot unilaterally redirect the death benefit to a new spouse or a trust. Check the existing designation on file before assuming a beneficiary change is possible.

On the Life and Health Beneficiary Change Form, enter the trust as the beneficiary with the relationship "trustee," then check one of two boxes: the trust is created by the insured's will, or the trust already exists as a living (inter vivos) trust. Attach a copy. ManhattanLife also has its own Life Certificate of Trust Agreement, which certifies the trust name, tax ID, execution date, grantors, and all trustees, and states whether all, a majority, or any single trustee may sign for the policy — all trustees must sign that certification. The trap is on the testamentary side. If you name a trustee under your will, ManhattanLife's policy provisions state that if no will naming that trustee is admitted to probate within 90 days of the insured's death, or the named trustee has not qualified within one year of death, the proceeds are paid instead to the second beneficiary if living, and otherwise to the insured's estate — where they become subject to probate and creditor claims. Naming an existing living trust avoids that timing risk entirely.

Yes, but the annuity side uses a different form than the life side. A trust that owns an annuity contract, changes trustees, requests a contract change, or claims a death benefit as a beneficiary must file the Trust Information / Trustee Certification Indemnification Agreement with Annuity Operations (800-247-2045, fax 509-835-3190, PO Box 2290, Spokane, WA 99210-2217). All trustees sign it. The form itself forces the tax question: the trustees must check either that the trust IS acting as agent for a natural person, in which case the contract keeps its treatment as a deferred annuity, or that it IS NOT, in which case the form states plainly that the contract will not be treated as an annuity for income tax purposes. That is the IRC Section 72(u) rule on non-natural-person owners, and it means a trust-owned annuity can lose tax deferral. Note the form is also required when a trust is merely the BENEFICIARY claiming an annuity death benefit, not just when it is the owner. Confirm the tax outcome with a tax advisor before retitling.

Three things. First, the Beneficiary Claimant Statement is a sworn document — the instructions require it to be sworn before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, so it must be notarized, and each beneficiary must submit a SEPARATE statement rather than sharing one form. Second, ManhattanLife asks for the ORIGINAL policy document. If it cannot be located, file the Acknowledgment of Misplaced Policy in its place; the fee for that affidavit is waived when it is submitted together with the Beneficiary Claimant Statement. Third, the claim has to go to the right department: individual life claims go to the Claims Department at P.O. Box 925309, Houston, TX 77292-5309, but employer group and voluntary benefits claims go to the entirely separate VB Claims Department (1-855-448-6982, VBClaimsSubmissions@manhattanlife.com, PO Box 926169, Houston, TX 77292). If the death benefit is under $5,000, there is a shorter form, the Beneficiary Claimant Statement - Under $5,000. Documents can be uploaded at clients.manhattanlife.com without registering, using the policy number and the owner's zip code.