Title 5

SECTION 870.901

870.901 Assignments permitted.

§ 870.901 Assignments permitted.

(a) (1) Section 208 of the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-353 (98 Stat. 355), effective July 10, 1984, permits Federal judges to irrevocably assign their FEGLI coverage to one or more individuals, corporations, or trustees. Section 4 of Pub. L. 103-336 (108 Stat. 2661), effective October 3, 1994, extended this right to all Federal employees, annuitants, and compensationers.

(2) An individual may assign ownership of all life insurance under this part, except Option C. If an individual wishing to make an assignment owns more than one type of coverage, he/she must assign all the insurance; an individual cannot assign only a portion of the coverage. Option C cannot be assigned.

(b) An individual cannot name conditional assignees in case the primary assignee dies before the insured individual.

(c) If the insurance is assigned to two or more individuals, corporations, or trustees, the insured individual must specify percentage shares, rather than dollar amounts or types of insurance, to go to each assignee.

(d) If an individual who has made an assignment later elects increased insurance coverage under § 870.506 or during an open enrollment period, the increased coverage is considered included in the already existing assignment. The right to increase coverage remains with the insured individual, rather than transferring to the assignee.

(e) An individual who assigns ownership of insurance continues to be the insured individual, but the assignee receives those rights of an insured individual that are specified in this part.

(f) Once assigned, the value of the insurance increases or decreases automatically as provided by this part. Exception: if the insured individual elected a Living Benefit before assigning the remainder of his/her insurance, the amount of Basic insurance does not increase or decrease.

(g) An insured individual who has assigned his/her insurance cannot elect a Living Benefit; nor can an assignee elect a Living Benefit on behalf of the insured individual.

(h) An insured individual who has elected a Living Benefit under subpart K of this part may assign the remainder of his/her insurance. The assignment would affect Option A, Option B, and, for an employee who elected a partial Living Benefit, Basic insurance.

(i) A court order can direct that an insured individual make an irrevocable assignment to the person(s) named in the court order. For an assignment to be effective, the insured individual must follow the procedures in § 870.902.

[62 FR 48731, Sept. 17, 1997, as amended at 64 FR 16602, Apr. 6, 1999]