DEATH BENEFIT (FOR MEMBERS AND DEPENDENTS)
BENEFIT (Occupational and Non-Occupational)
In the event of your death from any cause, payment of your death benefit will
be made to your beneficiary of record. In the event of the death of any other
covered Family Member, payment will be made directly to the member. The amount
of payment is that shown in the Summary of Benefits Schedule.
A payment of all or a portion of the death benefit may be made directly to a
funeral home, provided the Fund receives from the beneficiary of record an
appropriate, written and signed assignment of benefits.
CONTINUANCE OF MEMBER DEATH BENEFIT IN THE EVENT OF TOTAL DISABILITY
If, while you are eligible, you become totally disabled, your Death Benefit
coverage as determined from the Summary of Benefits Schedule will continue after
your eligibility stops provided:
1. You must provide the Fund with written proof, satisfactory to the Trustees
or the appropriate Fund representatives, that you are Totally Disabled. THIS
WRITTEN PROOF MUST BE PROVIDED TO THE FUND WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF THE DATE ON
WHICH YOU FIRST RECEIVED ORAL OR WRITTEN NOTICE FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION, A PHYSICIAN, A HEALTH PROVIDER, OR ANY OTHER SOURCE THAT YOU ARE
TOTALLY DISABLED. Contact the Fund office for this special form.
2. During the last three months of each subsequent year that you remain
Totally Disabled, you must provide the Fund with written proof of your
continuing disability. This written proof shall be in a form satisfactory to the
Trustees or the appropriate Fund representative.
3. If you die before the expiration of the six month period set forth in
paragraph (1) above, then within one year of your death your beneficiary of
record must provide the Fund with written proof that you remained Totally
Disabled from the onset of the total disability to the date of your death.
4. If you apply for disability benefits from the Social Security
Administration at any time after you cease working, then you must send a copy of
your application and all supporting documentation to the Fund within ninety (90)
days after you file the application with the Social Security Administration.
BENEFICIARIES
1. You have the sole right to designate the beneficiary to whom your Death
Benefit shall be payable. This designation is one of the records which the Fund
office maintains along with your census information. Also, you can change your
designation at any time, but you must do this in writing and it will take effect
on the day your signed request is received in the Fund office.
2. If you have more than one beneficiary when you die, and you haven't
specified their respective interests, they all share equally.
3. If any beneficiary dies before you do, his or her rights and interest
shall automatically terminate.
4. If your designated beneficiary does not file a claim for your Death
Benefit within one year from your date of death and the whereabouts of this
designated beneficiary are unknown, the Fund shall insert an advertisement in a
newspaper of general circulation in the last known place of residence of this
designated beneficiary as shown by the Fund's records, to the effect that if the
designated beneficiary does not file a claim within ten (10) days of the
advertisement, the Trustees will pay your Death Benefit, without interest, to
your estate or next of kin as set forth below.
5. If you have not designated a beneficiary or the beneficiary you named is
no longer living or fails to file a Death Benefit claim after the advertisement
described above, then the Fund may, at its option, pay an amount not to exceed
$1,000.00 to any person or persons who may have incurred expenses in connection
with your last illness or burial. The balance of your Death Benefit, if any,
shall be paid to:
- Your surviving spouse, or, if none
- Equally to your surviving children, or, if none,
- Your parent(s), or, if none
- Your surviving sibling(s), or, if none,
- The personal representative of your estate without restriction to the
foregoing order.
The term “sibling” shall
include only those persons who share at least one parent with the decedent,
either by birth or legal adoption.
Furthermore, should any
person to whom the death benefit is payable has not reached the age of eighteen
(18) as of the time of payment and for whom a guardian of the estate of the
minor has not been appointed, then in such event the Fund shall establish a
trust account of the benefit of the minor at a federally regulated bank or
similar institution.
Health
& We
lfare
and Pension Funds