Putting Your House in Order

A Brief Guide to Preparing for the

Unexpected
! ! ! UN Photo/Tim McKulka ! ! UN Photo/Evan Schneider

PUTTING
This brochure attempts to provide you with review these benefits and entitlements. Ask him/ Think of planning for life
information to assist you in “putting your house her what you need to do now to make it easy for after your demise as a four-
in order” prior to tragedy, should it ever occur.* your family to obtain these payments, including step process:

YOUR HOUSE
the specific forms you need to fill out or update.
Remember that some benefits are administered
* While the information provided in this guide STEP 1:
separately, and as such, require separate

IN ORDER
was prepared with utmost care, the Organization beneficiary documentation.
or EPST does not guarantee the accuracy, Understanding your overall
completeness, timeliness or correct sequencing Pension Fund Entitlements financial situation: your
of the provided information. This guide serves as benefits, entitlements,
an orientation tool to staff members and
A BRIEF GUIDE FOR provides not basis for legal claims of any kind. Your surviving dependents may be entitled to
surviving spouse benefits and child benefits.
assets and liabilities

PREPARING FOR THE Remember that these dependents must be

officially recognized by the Organization.
STEP 2:

UNEXPECTED Step 1: Understanding

Surviving spouse benefits are payable at half the
standard annual rate of retirement benefit that
Deciding what you want
following your passing:
would have been payable had you worked to what happens to you, what
In the most arduous and perilous places of our
world, United Nations staff courageously work to
Your Overall Financial your retirement age. Child benefits are payable
as long as your child remains unmarried and is
happens to your loved
ones, and what they will
improve the lives of the neediest. It is today’s
sad reality that United Nations staff find
Situation under the age of 21. Should your surviving
dependents die before the full amount that you
receive

themselves, with increasing frequency, in harm’s contributed to the Pension Fund is paid out, the
STEP 3:
way. As such, planning for the future and making remainder goes as a lump sum to the beneficiary
You may want to evaluate what financial
sure your affairs are in order in the event of an that you designate.
planners call your financial “net worth.” Calculate Creating the tools
unexpected tragedy are of critical importance to your assets, including your checking, savings,
You may want to remind your family that necessary for your family to
you and your loved ones. Preparedness remains money market, and fixed deposit accounts,
documentation for pension benefits should be continue in as stress-free
critical even for staff in the safest of duty equity assets, tax sheltered assets, property,
stations, as disaster and illness can strike submitted to the Pension Fund by your Human manner as possible
memberships, and additional life insurance. You
indiscriminately. Resource focal point as quickly as possible
may also want to take stock of your debts and
following death. Keep in mind your family’s STEP 4:
liabilities, such as your mortgages and loans. A
income continuity: it usually takes 4—6 weeks
The need to make difficult decisions often arises sample worksheet is available on EPST’s
following receipt of the last required document Communicating these plans
during already stressful and emotional instances. website.
for the first cheque to arrive. It is important to
Time spent making preparations in calmer to your loved ones so that
ensure that you complete, and update if
moments can help alleviate such stressful In addition, there are several United Nations they are prepared
necessary, the “Designation of a Residual
situations for your friends and family down the benefits and entitlements for which your
Settlement” (Form Pens. A/2). For more
line. surviving loved ones may be eligible in the
information, contact your Executive Office or
untimely event of your passing. You may want to
your UNJSPF focal point.
contact your Human Resource focal point to
 ! ! UN Photo/Rick Borjamas ! ! UN Photo/Sebastian Rich

Settlement” (Form Pens. A/2). For more Repatriation Travel, Shipment, and Appendix D Remember that there may
information, contact your Executive Office or Repatriation Grant for Surviving be some benefits and
your UNJSPF focal point. Dependents If the death of a staff member is attributable to entitlements that will cease
the performance of official services on behalf of
upon your passing and may
Final Payment These entitlements apply to staff members in the the United Nations, the surviving spouse and
dependents may be entitled to compensation affect your family members.
Professional category and above, and
This is the amount of money the Organization internationally-recruited General Service and which is regulated by Appendix D of the United These include:
owes a staff member at the time of death in Field Service staff members whose families were Nations Staff Rules. This compensation is similar
service, calculated from his or her salary, brought to the duty station at the expense of the to a workers’ compensation schedule of I. Education grant and
dependency allowances, annual leave days, and United Nations. To make arrangements for payments. Your spouse should ask the education grant travel
other allowances if applicable. Any amounts due repatriation and shipment of personal effects Executive Office or Human Resource focal point
to the Organization by the staff member will be and related grants, your loved one should if Appendix D may be relevant in the
circumstances. The claim for compensation II. Home leave
subtracted from this amount. The final payment contact the Executive Office or Human Resource
will go to the persons you have designated as focal point, who will provide information on the should be submitted through your Human
t h e b e n e fi c i a r i e s o n t h e f o r m e n t i t l e d repatriation entitlements and process, and Resource focal point, so contact him or her to III. Immigrant visa or
"Designation, change, or revocation of supply the necessary forms. learn about the process. residence permit
beneficiary" (P.2), which is available from your
Executive Office. This means that spouses are Health Insurance Malicious Act Insurance Policy (MAIP) IV. Rental subsidy
not automatic beneficiaries. Be sure to update
this form as needed and ensure that the original After-service health insurance (ASHI) is available If the death of a staff member is attributable to a
is filed in your official status file. Other duty station specific
to the surviving spouse and eligible dependent malicious act at a designated duty station, there
may be additional compensation paid to family entitlements (e.g. security
children provided they were enrolled in the same
Death Benefit contributory health insurance plan as the former members. If the event is classified as a malicious allowance, duty free/
staff member. Dependent children may be act, the application process for the benefit will commissary privileges, etc.)
The Organization may pay a death benefit in covered under ASHI until they reach 25 years of be initiated by the Human Resource focal point.
cases of service-incurred death. The death age, provided they are not married or in full-time Your family member should contact him/her with The surviving spouse and/or
benefit is payable only to the officially recorded employment. Application for ASHI must be any questions.
dependents should contact
surviving spouse and dependent children. It is submitted within three months of the incident. To
their designated Human
processed along with the final payment and is complete the application, your spouse or the Memorial and Recognition Fund
based on the years of service with the legal guardian of your minor children should Resource focal point and
Organization. Contact your Human Resource contact the Health and Life Insurance Section or This is a one-time grant available to various the Visa Committee (for New
focal point to understand how the benefit is your Human Resource focal point. categories of persons who have been injured, York-based staff) for
calculated. It usually takes from 4—6 weeks to kidnapped, held hostage, relocated, or to information and assistance
finalize this payment. surviving family members of those who lost their
as soon as possible.
lives in the line of duty.
 ! ! UN Photo/ Ian Steele ! ! UN Photo

The grant is meant to be used for two purposes: What Happens to Your Loved Ones?
(a) education for surviving children, and (b) to Step 2: Deciding What You may want to create a
set of guiding documents
cover some specific expenses not covered by ‣ What benefits and entitlements would they
existing benefits and entitlements at the United You Want receive?
such as:
Nations. Please contact the Emergency
Preparedness and Support Team for more ‣ I. A legal will
Where would they live? What repatriation
information. Once you have understood your financial benefits are applicable to them?
situation and what you can expect, you may II. A living will
Funeral Costs want to think about your wishes for yourself and ‣ How would your assets be divided? (document outlining
your family following your passing.
your last wishes and
A portion of funeral costs may be reimbursable, ‣ Who would be responsible to continue your rites)
including costs related to the transportation of What Happens to You?
financial obligations?
remains" and/or for escorts to accompany the
body to the location of the funeral and/or burial. ‣ Do you wish to be interred or cremated? ‣ III. A financial information
Should both you and your partner pass
Family members should be advised to contact away, what would happen to your children? sheet
the Human Resource focal point or Family Focal ‣ What kind of funeral and memorial
Point for more situation-specific information. arrangements would you like? A letter to your family
‣ What do you want done with your personal
Step 3: Creating the explaining, in non-legal
Other Entities to Consider:

Life Insurance
things, such as clothes and photographs?
Tools for Your Family language, what you intend
for them
If you participate in United Nations Group Life ‣ What do you want done with your virtual
Insurance, your spouse should be advised to “things,” such as your personal email Once you have decided what you want for
contact the Health and Life Insurance Section. If account, social network accounts, yourself and your family following your passing,
you have any other insurances, such as professional network accounts, virtual you may want to set in place some tools that will
additional life insurance or education trusts, your publishings, etc.? Do you want a digital make it logistically and administratively easier for
loved ones should be advised now of the afterlife? You may want to consider what your family to continue after you.
persons or offices to contact. information about you remains online,
particularly given the rampancy of identity
Having a legal will is important for your family
United Nations Federal Credit Union theft that occurs via the internet.
and for local authorities to know how to carry
(UNFCU) out your last wishes. A legal will usually identifies
If you have an account with UNFCU, your the person you wish to appoint as the
remaining balances will be transferred to your representative of your estate and the guardian of
designated beneficiary in the event of your your children, all your assets as well as the
passing. Other designations of beneficiary forms recipients of these assets. Wills may be subject
do not govern the UNFCU, so add the “UNFCU to various kinds of regulations based on one’s
Totten Trust Form” to your list of forms to review country. Check whether a legal will must comply
immediately (and update periodically) while with any particular form requirements in your
putting your house in order. country of nationality.
 ! ! UN Photo/ Paulo Filgueiras ! ! UN Photo/ Evan Schneider

For instance, a handwritten document may have Gather in one place all the documents that will sensitivity; you may wish to discuss such issues Beneficiary documents that
greater legal validity than a typed one in your be needed by your family to establish rights for with your primary beneficiary. Speaking to a you should think of reviewing
country, or, in order to be legally binding, it may insurance, pension, benefits and entitlements, counsellor or therapist in advance may also be
and updating as necessary:
have to be notarized. You should also consider social security, and ownership. These should useful.
having an attorney review the will. Try to keep include, but are not limited to, your will, your
the document updated. marriage licenses and birth certificates, bank I. Pension Fund:
You may also want to communicate to the
books, deeds to property, income tax returns, “Designation of a
United Nations your new wishes and
A living will is a document in which you set forth citizenship papers, residence permits or visas, Residual
beneficiaries as soon as possible following a
your wishes in advance, while you are social security cards, and papers on designated Settlement” (Form
major life event, such as a birth, death, marriage,
competent, regarding your decisions about beneficiaries. You should also always keep safe
or divorce. Communicate changes to emergency Pens. A/2)
yourself should you ever be rendered a valid signed United Nations Letter of
contact information as well.
incompetent. A living will discusses things such Appointment. Be sure that your Letter of
as whether you would wish to be placed on life Appointment is signed immediately upon your II. Final Payment:
If you have not already done so, we encourage
support or whether you would wish to be recruitment and put on record so that you are "Designation, change,
you to start putting your house in order right
artificially hydrated. This document only covered as a valid staff member of the or revocation of
away. Make an appointment today to speak with
becomes relevant when any of the situations Organization at all times. Each time you are
your Human Resource focal point, Executive beneficiary" (P.2)
outlined therein actually occur. You may want to reappointed and sign a new letter of
Office focal point, the Pension Fund, the Health
peruse the Web to find templates of living wills, appointment make sure to have it filed at once.
and Life Insurance section, and the UNFCU. You III. Life insurance and
such as at www.agingwithdignity.org. As with
can visit our website (www.un-epst.org) to other insurances and
legal wills, check whether a living will must
comply with any particular form requirements in Step 4: download the principal forms that you will need.
Make a point of recording necessary updates at trusts: designation of
your country of nationality.
Communicating Your the beginning of every year—a yearly ritual of
sorts.
beneficiary forms

Be sure that basic information related to your

finances is available to your family members or
loved ones (i.e. where bank numbers,
Plans to Your Loved IV. UNFCU: UNFCU
Totten Trust Form
passwords, important contact information, and
monthly billing information can be found). If in
Ones Most of these documents,
general in your household, one person takes are available on EPST’s
sole charge of financial matters, the other Death may or may not be an easily broached website. Remember to also
person may not know where to begin to take topic in your family. In either case, it remains
update, as necessary your
over following a tragedy. To assist with this important for your family to know your wishes
process of making your financial information about what is to happen in the unfortunate event emergency contact
easily accessible in an emergency, EPST’s of your passing. You may want to find a quiet information via your Human
website contains a sample financial information time and place to discuss these matters with Resource focal point.
sheet that you can modify to your own needs. y o u r f a m i l y. S o m e f a m i l i e s m a y h a v e
complicated situations which require additional
QUESTIONS?
The Emergency Preparedness and Support Team (EPST) was created in May 2010 to better fulfill the UN’s duty
to care for its personnel and their family members given the risks that these personnel endure. EPST is housed in
the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM), Department of Management in the Secretariat in New
York.
CONTACT US: Our mandate is to provide and coordinate essential support to staff survivors and the families of those who perish
or are injured as a result of malicious acts, natural disasters, or other emergencies.
EPST@UN.ORG Our mission is to:

Office of Human Resources Management ‣ Coordinate and improve existing HR mechanisms and policies for staff support
(OHRM), 380 Madison Avenue, Room
09061A, New York, NY 10017 ‣ Empower United Nations staff in preparing themselves for emergencies from an HR perspective
Tel: 917.367.4203
www.un-epst.org ‣ Provide a ‘chapeau’ framework & support to existing broad network of internal and external resources for
partner UN offices, and staff and families

‣ Serve as a communication/coordination centre on Human Resource matters related to staff and family
support in emergencies

Our partners in coordinating services in the Secretariat are: Department of Management - Human Resources
Services, Staff Counsellor's Office, Medical Service Division, Business Continuity Management Unit, Advisory
Board on Compensation and Claims, Pension Unit – Department of Safety and Security: Critical Incident
Management Unit (CISMU), Lead Department(s) such as Department of Field Support, etc.

We also collaborate with the UN's Agencies, Funds, and Programmes both at Headquarters and in the field, as
well as best practice NGOs and commercial entities that offer similar family support programs.

For more information on EPST, please visit www.un-epst.org