This one will stump you
1. Husband worked at a non-profit and established a 403B 30 years ago…at that time he named beneficiaries as follows:
a. Wife – 60%
b. Child1 – 15%
c. Child2 – 15%
d. His mom – 10%
2. 5 years ago he did a living trust and filled in a change of beneficiary form….making his wife as 100% primary beneficiary and his trust as 100% secondary BUT…
3. He never submitted the form to the company (Fidelity)
4. So Fidelity still has the original beneficiary form on file that was done 30 years ago when the plan was established…
5. this man died in January….
6. we have the original change of beneficiary form that he signed 5 years ago but that was never submitted to Fidelity
7. Fidelity says they must go by the original form…
8. MY QUESTION – is there a legal way to force Fidelity to abide by the newer change of bene form that we have (signed by the decedent) that was never sent o Fidelity…OR are we stuck with using the existing form from 30 years ago? Can we force Fidelity use this 5 year old form so the wife gets 100%? Any IRS rulings on this issue?
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Thu, 2008-03-13 18:38
The IRS is not inclined to get involved with WHO gets the funds, they are more concerned with getting the RMDs realized and taxes paid. I do not think there is much chance of forcing Fidelity to change what has probably been their written policy on this for years that the form on file that has been accepted by Fidelity prevails.
However, there are disclaimer solutions to this if the children and Mom (if still living) disclaim their interest. The wife would then receive 100%. She would have anyway had the change been made. The terms of the trust should make it obvious to the children what the intent was, but the law is on their side should they refuse to disclaim.