🚧 Draft page — pending client and legal review. This help article is visible only to admins until Metro BMNY leadership and legal counsel approve the final wording. Do not link to this page from member-facing emails or notifications until the draft flag is cleared.
📌 Where the form lives now. As of 2026-05-04, designating a beneficiary is part of the Insurance Enrollment section on your profile — the same form that activates your $100,000 group life insurance benefit. There is no separate Beneficiary Designation section anymore. The screenshots below need regeneration against the new layout (tracked as a follow-up).
How to Designate Your Beneficiary
As a member of the Metropolitan Building Managers of New York (Metro BMNY) in good standing, you are covered by the association's group life insurance benefit. If a member passes away, the benefit is paid out to the person — or people — the member named on their beneficiary form. Designating that person is part of completing your Insurance Enrollment on the member website.
This page walks you through filling out the beneficiary fields inside the Insurance Enrollment form. Take your time with it. There is no rush, and you can come back and update it later whenever life changes.
Why the form matters
The beneficiary form is a short document, but it carries real weight. Without a completed form on file, the life insurance benefit may end up going to whoever state law would choose — and that may not be the person you would have wanted. The form is your chance to make that decision clearly, in writing, and on your own terms.
If you have been a Metro BMNY member for years and never filled one out, that is completely normal. The association kept everything on paper for decades. We are now asking every member to complete the form in the member website so the records are in one place and up to date.
What to gather before you start
Before you open the form, have the following information ready for the person you want to name. Filling it out is easier when you are not hunting for details in the middle of the form.
For your primary beneficiary (required fields marked with *):
- Full legal name *
- Your relationship to them — for example Spouse, Child, Parent *
- Phone number
- Mailing address
For a secondary beneficiary (optional but recommended):
- Full legal name
- Relationship to you
A secondary beneficiary is who would receive the benefit if the primary beneficiary is no longer living at the time of the claim. Naming a secondary is not required — but many members do it, and it saves their families a lot of paperwork later.
Who you can name
You can name anyone you like. Common choices include:
- Your spouse or long-term partner
- An adult child
- A parent or sibling
- A trust set up in your name
- A combination of the above, split by percentage
If you are not sure who to name, or if your situation is complicated — a blended family, a business partner, a special-needs relative — it is worth a short conversation with an attorney or financial advisor before you fill out the form. Metro BMNY staff are happy to help you find the form, but we are not in a position to give legal or financial advice about who you should name.
Filling out the form
- Log in to portal.metropolitanbmny.com.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click My Profile.
- Scroll down to the Insurance Enrollment section. The introduction explains coverage through Companion Life Insurance.
- Under Coverage Election, select Enroll (selecting Decline skips the beneficiary fields — you can come back and enroll later).
- Fill in the Personal Information and Employment Information sections.
- Under Primary Beneficiary, type the Full Name (use the legal name — nicknames can cause problems at claim time) and the Relationship (for example Spouse, Child, Parent). These two fields are required.
- Add the optional details if you have them — Date of Birth, Phone, Address.
- If you want to name a secondary beneficiary, click Add secondary beneficiary and fill out those fields the same way. Otherwise, leave it collapsed.
- Review everything once more. Make sure spellings, phone numbers, and addresses are correct.
- Click Submit Enrollment Form. A green confirmation appears and a status badge — Pending Review, Submitted, Sent to Provider, or Confirmed — shows above the form.
Screenshot above predates the 2026-05-04 dedup — needs regeneration against the Insurance Enrollment layout.
After you submit
The form goes to Metro BMNY for filing with the group life insurance policy. While the office reviews it, the status badge stays on Pending Review. Once it is approved by the office, it becomes On File and the insurance paperwork is updated on your behalf. You do not need to mail anything, sign anything on paper, or follow up.
Updating the form later
Life changes. If any of the following happen, please reach out to the office to update your beneficiary on file:
- You get married, or your marriage ends
- A new child or grandchild comes into your family
- The person you named passes away
- You move, or your beneficiary moves
- You simply change your mind
Email admin@metropolitanbmny.com and the office will help you update your beneficiary on the policy. (In-portal beneficiary updates after Insurance Enrollment is submitted are tracked as a follow-up improvement.)
Honesty and accuracy
The details you put on this form must be accurate. If anything is wrong — a misspelled name, an outdated address, a phone number that no longer works — please fix it the next time you log in. Small mistakes can cause real delays when it matters most.
Your privacy
Your beneficiary information is treated with care. Metro BMNY board members and staff who handle member records can see the form, but they keep it confidential. Your information is shared only with the group life insurance policy on file — never with anyone else.
A note on taxes and estate planning
This page is a general guide to filling out the Metro BMNY beneficiary form. It is not legal or tax advice. If you have questions about how a life insurance payout fits into your broader estate plan, or how it interacts with a will, a trust, or your taxes, please speak with a qualified attorney or tax professional. They can give you advice tailored to your situation — Metro BMNY cannot.
If you get stuck on the form itself, email admin@metropolitanbmny.com and someone from the office will walk you through it. We know this is a serious topic, and we will take the time to get it right with you.