Picture This Scenario

It’s been years since you last filled out and sent in a beneficiary card to the Fund. At that time, you designated your wife as your primary beneficiary. You had two children together, but unfortunately, your marriage fell on hard times, ending in divorce.

You later remarried and over the years you continued to work steadily as a musician on film scores. Every year you look forward to receiving that Special Payments check in the mail.

The money you have received from residuals has come in very handy over the years. It has allowed your family to go on some fabulous vacations, helped in paying for that deck that you added to the house and provided some nest egg money for your kids’ college education.

It’s all good, right? Here’s where the scenario gets grim…

You are involved in a horrible accident that leaves your wife widowed and your children fatherless. Following your untimely passing, the Fund digs out the beneficiary card that you had filled out those many years ago, designating your former spouse.

Although the beneficiary card will not be valid in most cases because of your divorce, things may not work out as you might hope.

True, your current wife will likely end up as your beneficiary and that's probably good. But keep in mind that once your current wife becomes your beneficiary, your wife will have the right to establish her own beneficiary (if you are a participant in the Fund).

Your future Fund earnings can wind up going to your wife's new spouse, her Aunt Alice from Petaluma - all sorts of people besides your children from the former marriage. Your wife will be under no obligation to name your children as her beneficiary.

Now Picture This Scenerio

You signed a beneficiary card when you were a young adult, designating your mother as your Primary beneficiary and your sister as the Alternate beneficiary. You never married and never had any children.

Your mother passes away and your sister predeceases you.

Who is entitled to the benefit after you pass away?

It may depend on the state in which you lived. To make sure your loved ones receive your Special Payments, be sure to update your beneficiary information with any of your life changes.

Because Life Changes Happen

As unfortunate as the scenarios just described are, they illustrate why it is so important that participants of the Fund keep their beneficiary information updated. Life changes occur to everyone.

Having a beneficiary card that contains all the current and necessary information could save your family or other loved ones from any additional grief and hardship that would come with your passing.

Unfortunately, each day our office receives cards from our participants that can’t be accepted because crucial information is incorrect or missing altogether.

One Step At a Time

In our attempt to gain accurate and complete information regarding beneficiary designation from our participants, the Fund has designed the following step-by-step instructions on filling out our beneficiary card:

Beneficiary Card Instructions

IMPORTANT!

Please take the time to read these step-by-step instructions carefully to complete your Beneficiary card accurately and to ensure a timely update of your beneficiary information.

Certain information is required in order for completed Beneficiary cards to be properly processed by the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. Any incomplete Beneficiary cards received by our office will be returned to the sender along with a request to provide additional information.

If you make a mistake, do not use white-out. Cross out the mistake and put your initials next to it.

Front Panel – Participant Musician Information

Enter your name, mailing address, telephone number, email address (if available) and birth date on the appropriate lines.

Circle either U.S. Social Security Number (SSN), Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN) or U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) appropriately and enter that number on the following line.

The U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number would be required for foreign nationals working in the United States. All other participants must indicate either a Social Security Number or a Social Insurance Number.

IMPORTANT: The Fund uses your birth date to verify your Social Security Number with the Social Security Administration. This is a critical piece of information that the Fund uses to process your beneficiary information.

Enter your signature as well as the date.

IMPORTANT: This card is not valid without the participant beneficiary’s signature and date.

Upper Interior Panel– PRIMARY Beneficiary Information

Enter the complete name, relationship (examples: daughter, spouse or “no relation”), birth date, mailing address, telephone number and email address (if available) of your Primary beneficiary.

Enter the appropriate I.D. number – either U.S. Social Security Number (SSN), Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN) or U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) – for your Primary beneficiary.

If your designation is an organization (example: a charity), enter the organization’s U.S. Federal Tax I.D. Number on the appropriate line.

Participants can also designate a Trust as their beneficiary. Please include the appropriate I.D. number.

IMPORTANT: The Fund cannot enter any person or organization into our database without having a proper I.D. number that can be verified. Failure to provide this information will result in the card being returned to you.

Lower Interior Panel – Additional PRIMARY Beneficiary

Completion of this section of the beneficiary card is optional and should be used in cases in which the original participant would like to designate more than one Primary beneficiary.

Please refer to the previous section of these instructions on Primary beneficiary designation to accurately complete the Additional PRIMARY Beneficiary section.

IMPORTANT: If you have three or more beneficiary designations, please attach an additional page including all of the information requested in the Primary beneficiary fields for each additional beneficiary as well as your signature and the date. The attached document must be signed and dated by the Participant Musician to be valid.

Back Panel – ALTERNATE Beneficiary Information

Enter the complete name, relationship (examples: daughter, spouse or “no relation”), birth date, mailing address, telephone number and email address (if available) of your Alternate beneficiary.

Enter the appropriate I.D. number – either U.S. Social Security Number (SSN), Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN) or U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) – for your Alternate beneficiary.

If your designation is an organization (example: a charity), enter the organization’s U.S. Federal Tax I.D. Number on the appropriate line.

Participants can also designate a Trust as their beneficiary. Please include the appropriate I.D. number.

IMPORTANT: If more than one Alternate beneficiary is designated, please attach an additional page including all of the information listed above for each additional Alternate beneficiary as well as your signature. Document must be signed by Participant Musician to be valid.

IMPORTANT: In many cases, the Primary beneficiary actually predeceases the Participant Musician. The Fund therefore recommends that you designate an Alternate beneficiary.

Take Control

There are a couple of ways to update your beneficiary designation. The most common is to contact the Fund office at (818) 755-7777 and request that a new beneficiary card be sent to you via U.S. Mail.

Once you receive the card, fill it out completely and accurately (the step-by-step instructions will accompany the card) and send it back to our office in the self-addressed, postage-paid envelope that will also be included.

Provided that there is no missing information to prevent us from updating your beneficiary designation, the Fund will update your information upon receipt.

We recommend that you make a copy of the completed beneficiary card to keep for your records.

You can also update and review your beneficiary designation online. To do so, you must sign up for the Private Area of our website at www.fmsmf.org. Details on how to sign up are available on the website.

Once you have access to the Private Area, you can review your beneficiary designation and change it at anytime online without having to request and fill out another card each time.

Your annual member statement, issued in July, will include a summary of your current beneficiary designations. Please take the time to review this information carefully each time you receive your statement. Information regarding beneficiary designations is located at the bottom of the statement.

Your Work, Your Money

You can’t always predict the events and changes that may occur in life, but you can take control over who will benefit from your hard work as a musician when you’re gone. We at the Fund urge you take the time to make your beneficiary designations with us and give you and your loved ones some peace of mind.