may be affected depending on the information established in your Matrimonial Property order . ATRF will review this document and recalculate your pension if required .
Name If you change your name or your nominee or beneficiaries change their names , it is important to provide us with a copy of the supporting document .
Income tax deductions There are many different scenarios that could affect your taxes . You may decide to have more or less income tax deducted from your pension payment . For ATRF retired members , this can be done by either logging in to MyPension and updating the information yourself or by filling out the form on ATRF . com and returning it to us for processing . Remember that , depending when the change of information is requested , it may not necessarily take effect on your pension payment right away .
Power of attorney A power of attorney is an arrangement that gives one or more people , or an attorney , the authority to manage another person ’ s ( the donor ’ s ) property and / or financial affairs , if they cannot do so themselves .
It is important to provide ATRF with a certified copy as soon as possible . Delays may occur in processing your payments if we do not have a copy on file . Your attorney will not be able to act on your behalf until we receive this document .
Death Your family or estate must notify ATRF as soon as possible of your passing . Pension payments will need to be adjusted following your death to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount at the right time . Advising ATRF on a timely basis will help reduce the potential that your loved ones would have to deal with overpayments . We recognize that this is a difficult thing for your spouse or executor to handle upon your death and it could be overwhelming . It helps to leave the details of your pension and survivor benefits with your will or other estate-planning documents .
Beneficiary information You can change your beneficiary as often as you wish . This is only relevant to those who have chosen a pension option with a guarantee and the guaranteed period is still active . Once the guarantee has expired , there is no remaining pension payment to pass down and the beneficiary information is irrelevant .
( You can find details about your pension option through MyPension or in your annual pension information statement .)
Nominee For ATRF members , the nominee you have designated to receive a pension following your death will remain your nominee for the rest of his or her life . You can no longer change this person once you are receiving a pension , even if you separate or divorce .
It is important to keep your ATRF information up to date in the case of a separation or divorce , since ATRF will need to get in contact with this person . Since the death of your nominee may also have an impact on your pension , we must be notified of the death as soon as possible to not create an overpayment .
Conclusion As you can see , there are a number of reasons to stay in touch with your pension administrator .
It is important to note that if you make changes to your information with other organizations , such as Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan ( ASEBP ) or Alberta Retired Teachers ’ Association ( ARTA ), these changes will not be passed to ATRF . You will need to contact each provider as they are not related and cannot share this information .
If you require any help in updating your information with ATRF , please contact the office by telephone or email . news & views WINTER 2016 | 55