News

Having Life Insurance Policy on File with Public Safety Agency Not a Requirement for PSOB

Published Date: 11.07.2011

Recently, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has been contacted by several members asking if it is necessary to provide life insurance to public safety officers, and have those policies on file with the department in order to qualify for the Public Safety Officer’s Benefits (PSOB) Program. The short answer to this is “no.”

According to the PSOB Act and regulations, the hierarchy of beneficiaries eligible to receive PSOB begins with the surviving spouse and eligible children of a public safety officer who dies from an injury sustained in the line of duty. If the public safety officer dies with no surviving spouse or children, the PSOB Office next asks whether there was a “PSOB designee” on file with the department at the time of the officer’s death, indicating who the officer designated to receive the PSOB benefit should tragedy strike. If there is no PSOB designee on file with the agency, the PSOB Office will request a copy of the most recently executed life insurance policy on file with the department at the time of the officer’s death, if any, to identify who the officer designated as his life insurance beneficiary. If no beneficiaries exist in the categories previously mentioned, then the benefit is made to the officer’s surviving parents in equal shares.

In no way does this require that public safety agencies provide life insurance policies to their officers, but rather the life insurance policy/beneficiary on file at the time of the officer’s death is one category of eligible beneficiary, should the officer die in the line of duty and have no surviving spouse or eligible children.

Anyone who has questions should contact Hope Janke with the PSOB Office, at hope.d.janke@usdoj.gov.

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