Form PSRS-187 Nomination of Beneficiaries: Filing, Trusts, and Mistakes

PSERS Form 187, officially the Nomination of Beneficiaries form (PSRS-187), is how Pennsylvania public school employees tell the Public School Employees’ Retirement System who should receive any death benefits payable from their account. You can file it any time before you apply for retirement, and the most recent properly completed version replaces every earlier nomination on file.¹ Active members can also skip the paper form and make the same designation through the PSERS Member Self-Service (MSS) portal.

When to File or Update the Form

PSERS is legally required to pay according to the last valid nomination on file, so an outdated form can send your benefits to someone you would no longer choose. PSERS recommends reviewing your beneficiaries after any major life event: marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, or a minor beneficiary turning 18.²

One point worth stating plainly: PSERS retirement benefits carry no special spousal rights and require no spousal consent or waiver.² Divorce does not automatically remove your ex-spouse from the form, and remarriage does not automatically add a new one. If you divorce and never file a new Form 187, your ex-spouse stays named.

How to Fill Out Form 187

The form is available as a PDF from the PSERS website or from a regional PSERS office.³ It is a legal document and cannot be altered once completed. If you make a mistake, start fresh on a blank copy rather than crossing out or writing over the entry.⁴

Section A: Your Information

Enter your full legal name along with either your PSERS Member ID or your Social Security number. Without one of those identifiers, PSERS cannot process the form.⁴ If you cannot find your PSERS ID, it appears on your Welcome Packet and the top of recent PSERS correspondence, or you can call 1.888.773.7748 to have it mailed to you.⁵

You can also correct personal data on this form, but only with supporting documentation attached:

Name change: a photocopy of the legal document behind the change.
Social Security number correction: a photocopy of your Social Security card.
Date-of-birth correction: a copy of a birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, or similar proof.
Gender correction: written verification explaining the reason for the change.⁴

Sections B and C: Primary Beneficiaries

Section B names individuals. Section C names your estate, a trust, or a charity. You can use one, the other, or both, but the percentages in Sections B and C combined must total exactly 100%.⁴

For each individual in Section B, provide the full name, Social Security number, date of birth, gender, relationship to you, and mailing address. If you name your spouse and your adult daughter at 50% each, both entries need all six fields completed. Leaving any field blank for a named beneficiary is one of the most common reasons the form is rejected.

Sections D and E: Contingent Beneficiaries

Contingent (secondary) beneficiaries receive your benefit only if every primary beneficiary has died before you. Section D is for individuals and Section E is for an estate, trust, or charity. If you use percentages, Sections D and E together must also total 100%.⁴

For contingent beneficiaries only, you have a second option: rank them in preferential order (1, 2, 3, and so on) instead of using percentages. The full benefit then goes to your first-ranked contingent beneficiary; if that person has also died, it goes to the second-ranked, and so on down the list.⁶ If you name no one, or if every named beneficiary dies before you, PSERS pays the benefit to your estate.¹

Naming a Trust, Estate, or Charity

Form 187 lets you divide your benefit across individuals, trusts, charities, and your estate in any combination.⁶ Each option has its own quirks:

Trust: do not send a copy of the trust agreement with the form. When the time comes, PSERS sends a Trustee Certification to the trustee, and if that is properly completed, PSERS pays according to your nomination. If the trust is no longer valid or operative at your death, PSERS pays your contingent beneficiary instead, or your estate if none exists. A minor cannot serve as trustee.
Estate: a court must appoint an administrator or executor before PSERS can release the funds. No extra information beyond the percentage is needed on the form.
Charity: enter the charity’s name and the name and address of a contact person for the organization.

There is a practical consequence to naming a trust or your estate as your sole beneficiary: your family will not be able to choose monthly survivor benefits in place of a lump sum. The only death benefit payable to a trust or estate is a lump-sum refund of your accumulated contributions and interest.⁶

Common Mistakes That Get the Form Rejected

PSERS will not accept a form that is not properly completed.⁴ The most frequent problems:

Missing PSERS ID or Social Security number. The form cannot be processed without one.
Percentages that do not total 100%. Sections B and C must equal 100% together, and if percentages are used for contingents, Sections D and E must also total 100%.
Altered entries. Any crossing out, overwriting, or modification voids the form. Start a new one.
Missing signature or date. Both are required. No notary or witness is needed, but skipping either will get the form rejected.
Data corrections without proof. If you update your name, SSN, date of birth, or gender on the form, attach the required documentation.

How to Submit the Form

There are three ways to get your beneficiary designation to PSERS:

Online: active members can nominate or change beneficiaries directly through the MSS portal without filing paper at all.¹
Mail: PSERS, 5 North 5th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101-1905.⁴
Fax: 717.772.3860.⁴

Submit the form to PSERS yourself. Do not hand it to your school district to forward; PSERS has specifically instructed employers to direct employees to mail or fax it on their own.⁷ Once PSERS processes the form, you can confirm your active designations by logging into MSS.

One warning that catches people: every new Form 187 completely replaces all previous nominations. If you previously named three beneficiaries and your new form lists only one, the other two are removed entirely.² Always list every beneficiary you want to keep, not just the ones you are adding or changing.

What Form 187 Does Not Cover

Form 187 only controls who receives benefits after your death. It does not authorize anyone to access your account, request information, or act on your behalf while you are alive. That requires a separate Power of Attorney form, PSRS-248, which must be notarized and witnessed by two qualifying adults and includes a separate acknowledgment from the agent.⁸ Filing a divorce action automatically revokes a spouse’s authority as your agent under a POA, but it does not automatically change the beneficiary you named on Form 187.

Form 187 is also distinct from the survivor annuitant designation you make at retirement. When you apply for retirement, you choose a benefit payment option, and some options (Option 2 and Option 3) continue payments to a named survivor annuitant for life.⁹ That survivor annuitant is a separate designation from the beneficiary on Form 187. If your situation changes before retirement, Form 187 is the document to update now; the survivor annuitant choice happens later, in your retirement application.

1
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Nominating Beneficiaries
2
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. PSERS Death Benefits
3
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Member Forms
4
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Nomination of Beneficiaries – Instructions
5
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Manage Your Account with PSERS
6
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Nomination of Beneficiaries PSRS-187
7
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. PSERS Employer Bulletin Volume 1 2013
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Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Power of Attorney
9
Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Retirement Benefit Options