What to do when a Primerica account holder dies

Primerica applies its own contractual definition of per stirpes on the POL-08 beneficiary form, and the form itself warns that this definition may differ from the definition under your state's law and from the one in your will or trust. Under Primerica's version, if a per stirpes beneficiary dies before you, their share goes to their living natural or legally adopted children in equal shares. Stepchildren are explicitly excluded. If that beneficiary left no living children, their share is split among the other beneficiaries instead. Primerica also requires you to name a "Designated Authorized Party" who will certify the identity of the per stirpes beneficiaries at your death; if that person cannot be located or will not serve, Primerica falls back on the personal representative identified in Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. If your will and your POL-08 use per stirpes to mean different things, the beneficiary form controls the account.

The threshold is $10,000. For proceeds under $10,000 Primerica simply issues a check. For $10,000 or more the beneficiary chooses: one check for the entire amount, one of the settlement options written into the policy contract (fixed-period installments, installments for life, proceeds held for withdrawal, or installments of a selected amount), or a Primerica Estate Account. The Estate Account is a retained-asset account, not a bank account and not a money market account, and it is NOT FDIC-insured. The money stays in Primerica Life's own general account and the beneficiary draws on it with draft checks cleared through The Northern Trust Company in Chicago. Balances are protected only by state guaranty funds, generally up to $300,000, and the account carries a $2,500 minimum balance and a variable interest rate that will never fall below 0.25%. Interest earned is taxable. Beneficiaries living outside the United States cannot use the Estate Account at all and must take a check or a policy settlement option.

Two, filed with two different companies in two different states. Primerica runs entirely separate death-claim tracks. The life insurance claim goes to the Claims Department at 1 Primerica Parkway, Duluth, GA 30099-0001 — call (888) 893-9858, fax (470) 564-7662, or email us_lifeclaims@primerica.com — and every piece of correspondence has to carry the 10-digit policy number. The mutual fund, IRA, or 403(b)(7) claim goes to Primerica Shareholder Services (administered by BNY) at P.O. Box 534485, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4485, reachable at (800) 544-5445, using the Retirement Plans Death Distribution Form (POL-RPDE) for retirement accounts. Two more Primerica-specific points for executors: each beneficiary must submit their OWN claim form (though only one death certificate is needed per policy), and every document you send becomes part of the claim file and will NOT be returned to you — so never mail in the estate's only certified copy of the Letters Testamentary. The death certificate must be a certified copy showing the cause and manner of death.