Does anyone have a good method for tracking the death of retired particiants receiving annuity or periodic payments? For instance, if the spouse of a former participant receiving a 50% survivor annuity doesn't notify the payor, either through neglect or design, the higher benefit could be paid for some time. Thanks.

Thornton, the Trustee should be sending out and performing an annual or semi-annual "Are You Alive" update.

Check with the Trust Services Dept. of a few banks. They can quickly give you the details. They often list "Periodic death and address audits " as part of their services for periodic payments processing.

see:
www.mellon.com http://www.mellon.com/inst/trust/benefits_dis/periodic.html