Appointing Representatives

for IMRF Retirees
Couple

Appointing Representative Payees

Appointing an Individual as a Representative Payee

When someone is appointed as your Representative Payee, it means your future pension payments will be made payable to your representative on your behalf. 

The person you want to be your Representative Payee and your physician must complete an “Application to Serve as Representative Payee for Annuitant” form. 

Appointing a Nursing Home Administrator as a Representative Payee

To appoint a nursing home or administrator as your representative means to allow IMRF pay your pension to an official of a nursing home for your care. The administrator of the facility must submit an "Application to Serve as Representative Payee for Annuitant by Nursing Home or Hospital" form. Your future pension payment checks would then be made payable to the official of the nursing home.

Appointing a Conservator, Guardian, or Trustee

To allow IMRF to pay your pension to a conservator, guardian, or trustee, please mail a copy of the conservator, guardian, or trustee appointment to IMRF.

Appointing a Power of Attorney for Property

IMRF accepts Durable Powers of Attorney for property only, a Power of Attorney for health care has nothing to do with any matters regarding your IMRF account.

Your Power of Attorney (POA) document must meet the requirements of the Illinois Power of Attorney Act or IMRF will not accept it. A copy of the entire POA must be submitted for our review. If the original POA is more than a year old, we will send your POA agent an affidavit that he or she must:

IMRF will allow a designated POA agent to act for you in all aspects except the ability to change and sign a beneficiary form. An IMRF retiree is the only person who may sign and/or change an IMRF "Designation of Beneficiary" form. IMRF will not accept a designation of beneficiary form signed by anyone other than the member.

Make sure your designation of beneficiary form is up to date. If you can’t remember who your beneficiary is, we recommend that you fill out and submit a new designation of beneficiary. The fastest and easiest way to submit a designation of beneficiary is through your Member Access account.

Make Sure Your POA is Accepted by IMRF

Taking the following steps will help make sure we accept your document as soon as possible:

  1. Make sure the power of attorney you send us is for property and not health care.
  2. If your document states that the power of attorney must be accompanied by a written physician’s statement, you must include the physician’s statement when you send the documents to IMRF. We will not accept the document without the written physician's statement.
  3. Send all required documentation together.
  4. Please write the following information on the document:
    • The POA agent's current address 
    • The last four digits of the member's Social Security number

For more information about designating power of attorney, consult a lawyer.