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Designating an AOP Beneficiary

Your Arrears of Pay (AOP) Beneficiary is the person who will receive your final pro-rated paycheck in the event that you pass away. DFAS will also contact this person for help with closing your account. 

You can choose anyone, from family members to friends to associates, to be your AOP beneficiary.  But if you don't designate someone, it could cause undue stress and financial hardship in the event of your death.

When you applied for retirement, you were asked to provide a Designation of Beneficiary for Unpaid Retired Pay on your Data for Payment of Retired Personnel (DD 2656) form.  If you did not provide this information when you retired or you need to change your beneficiary, you can do so at any time.

It's Easy to Designate or Change Your Beneficiary
To designate or Change an Arrears of Pay (AOP) beneficiary, you have choices:


1) Use myPay to Manage Your Beneficiary Information
If you choose to use myPay to manage your beneficiary designations, your choices are updated without the hassle of forms, envelopes or waiting. To update your arrears of pay beneficiary using myPay:

  • Log into myPay at https://mypay.dfas.mil
  • Select ”Beneficiary for Arrears”
  • Your current beneficiary designation will display
  • Click on “Designate Beneficiaries”
  • Enter beneficiary information
  • Click “Continue” to add additional beneficiaries
  • When you have completed the designation of your beneficiaries, click on “Confirm Beneficiaries”
  • Review your changes, and if correct select “Yes”
  • This transaction will overwrite and replace any previous elections
  • Save or Print your new beneficiary designations

2Use the DD 2894 PDF Form 
You can also your update your arrears of pay beneficiary by completing a Designation of Beneficiary Information form (DD 2894). If you chose to use this method, please allow 30 – 60 days after we receive your designation for us to process, validate and update your previous designation. 

Use the New DD 2894 Form Wizard
You can use the Arrears of Pay Designation DD 2894 Form Wizard to simplify filling out the form. The Form Wizard will ask you a series of questions and fill in your answers in the appropriate areas of the form. When you have finished answering the questions, you can even choose to electronically sign your form and submit it online using our online upload tool! Or click a button to generate a ready-to-print-and-sign PDF with your answers.

How to use the Form Wizard: You can download the entire DD 2894 Form Wizard (right click and choose "Save link as...") to your Windows or MAC computer. You will need compatible PDF software, such as the free Adobe Acrobat DC software, available at adobe.com. We do not recommend saving the Form Wizard to a shared computer, because it contains personally-identifiable information. When using Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari to access an Adobe form wizard, the user may initially receive a pop-up attached message. The user must download the pdf (by clicking the download icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page), then double-click on downloaded file. It is suggested to use the form wizard on a personal device. Using the form wizard on a DFAS computer may not have the same functionality a personal device.

New! Online Option for Submitting Arrears of Pay Designation Form
DFAS created an online upload tool where retirees can upload the Arrears of Pay Designation form through askDFAS on the DFAS.mil website, which is also accessible on a mobile browser. 

The online upload tool is at: https://dvidshub.net/r/4bww7c

To use the new, online upload tool to submit an Arrears of Pay Designation form, the retiree just needs to fill in the required information on the online screen. The online upload tool can only accept Arrears of Pay Designation forms. It cannot be used for other types of retiree documents or requests.

Mail or Fax Your Form

1. Complete a Designation of Beneficiary Information form (DD 2894) or use the new DD 2894 Form Wizard

2. Mail or fax the form to:

DFAS U.S. Military Retired Pay
8899 E 56th Street
Indianapolis IN 46249-1200

Fax: 800-469-6559


Designating Multiple Beneficiaries
Section 2 of DD 2894 (Designated Beneficiary Information) allows you to share your AOP with up to five beneficiaries. You may leave each beneficiary a portion or establish an order of precedence.

To designate two or more beneficiaries, complete each subsection, then designate the percentage you want each beneficiary to receive (such as 60 percent) in the corresponding "Share" field. The total of the "Share" column cannot exceed 100 percent.

To establish a beneficiary order of precedence, complete Section 2 with the primary beneficiary listed first, and then designate each beneficiary to receive 100 percent in the "Share" column.
 
Keep Your AOP Beneficiary Information Updated

Please make sure that you keep the following information updated for your beneficiary at all times:

  • Name
  • Relationship
  • Address/contact information
You can change your beneficiary or update beneficiary contact information at any time through myPay accounts.
 


Important Notice: Please be aware that designating a sole beneficiary in your will does not automatically make that person your AOP beneficiary. AOP determination is based exclusively on the AOP beneficiary election in your retired pay account.

 

Related Links:

Arrears of Pay Overview
Manage Your Beneficiary Designation

What Happens When You Die?
Order of Precedence

 

Page updated June 7, 2023