TRS Georgia Beneficiary Designation Rules

When Your Beneficiary Choice Becomes Restricted

TRS generally restricts beneficiary and plan changes after it issues your first benefit check, but the rules depend on your plan. Under Plan A or Option 1, you may change beneficiaries while funds remain to be refunded, but you cannot switch to a survivorship plan after benefits begin. Under a survivorship plan, TRS allows changes in limited cases, including when a sole survivor beneficiary predeceases you or when you divorce a spouse who is your sole survivor beneficiary. With multiple beneficiaries, you generally cannot change the designation if one predeceases you; after divorce, TRS may allow you to remove a former spouse but does not allow you to add a new beneficiary. If you terminate retirement, return to TRS membership, and retire again, you may make a new plan and beneficiary selection.

That permanence makes the initial designation one of the highest-stakes decisions in the entire retirement process.

How Beneficiary Designations Work by Plan

Not every payout plan allows the same number of beneficiaries or the same type of survivor benefit:

• Plan A Maximum and Plan B Option 1 allow multiple primary and secondary beneficiaries. Both pay a lump sum of remaining Contributions and Interest (C&I) upon the retiree's death — not a monthly pension. Under Plan A, C&I is typically exhausted within 2 to 3 years of retirement.
• Plan B Options 2 and 3 allow multiple primary beneficiaries. Options 2 Pop-Up and 3 Pop-Up allow one primary beneficiary. Survivors receive a continuing monthly pension (100% under Option 2, 50% under Option 3) for life after the retiree dies.
• Plan B Option 4 allows multiple primary beneficiaries with custom dollar amounts or percentages, subject to TRS's rule that the retiree's monthly benefit cannot be reduced below 50% of the Plan A Maximum benefit.

If you need to designate more beneficiaries than the standard application fields allow, submit Form MB-1 (Designation of Retiring Member's Beneficiaries) alongside your retirement application.

The IRS MDIB Rule for Non-Spouse Beneficiaries

Members who want to name an adult child, sibling, or other non-spouse beneficiary under a survivorship plan (Plan B Options 2, 3, or 4) need to understand the IRS Required Minimum Distribution Incidental Benefit rule.

If your designated beneficiary is not your spouse and is more than 10 years younger than you, the MDIB rule caps the percentage of your benefit that can continue to that person after your death. The IRS requires this to prevent tax-deferred pension plans from functioning as wealth-transfer vehicles.

The practical effect: a 62-year-old retiree naming a 40-year-old child under Option 2 will see a larger actuarial reduction than one naming a same-age spouse, and the survivor benefit percentage may be limited below 100%. TRS applies the MDIB factors automatically based on the ages you report.

There is a second trap here. If you name multiple children as primary beneficiaries under Option 4 and one child predeceases you, the dollar amounts or percentages are not adjusted for the remaining beneficiaries.

Spousal Consent Requirements

Georgia law requires spousal acknowledgment when a married member selects a single-life plan (Plan A or Plan B Option 1) that provides no monthly survivor benefit. Your spouse must sign a notarized acknowledgment confirming they understand that no continuing monthly pension will be paid after your death.

Missing this form delays processing. TRS will not finalize the application until spousal acknowledgment is on file.

Even if you select a survivorship plan (Plan B Options 2 through 4), the designation form requires complete beneficiary demographic details — full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number. Incomplete entries cause the same processing delays.

Form MB-1 for Additional Beneficiaries

The standard retirement application includes beneficiary fields, but Form MB-1 handles situations the application cannot:

• Designating additional primary or secondary beneficiaries when the standard application fields are not enough and your selected plan allows them
• Naming secondary (contingent) beneficiaries who receive the C&I balance if the primary beneficiary predeceases the retiree
• Specifying an estate rather than an individual

Form MB-1 is for retiring members who have submitted their application but have not received their first retirement check. It must be signed and submitted to TRS; notarization is not required.

One detail that catches members off guard: TRS enforces beneficiary designations based on its official records, not external documents. A will, a trust document, or even a divorce decree does not override what TRS has on file. If you want a former spouse removed as beneficiary, you must submit updated paperwork directly to TRS.

What to Ask a TRS Counselor

Before finalizing your beneficiary designation, bring these questions to a TRS counselor or pre-retirement workshop:

• What is the exact monthly reduction if I name my adult child under Option 2 versus my same-age spouse?
• How does the MDIB rule affect the survivor benefit for my specific beneficiary's age?
• If I name two children under Option 4 and one dies, what happens to the surviving child's share?

The Georgia TRS Retirement Guide walks through each payout plan's beneficiary constraints, the MDIB math, and the spousal consent process step by step — so you can bring the right questions to your counselor instead of learning about these restrictions after the election is locked in.

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