I published a newsletter with an article from Forbes that had this comment-“if you divorce and remarry and fail to update the beneficiary designation on your IRA account to your new spouse, your ex-spouse would receive those assets upon your death. “

I had a reader reply with this comment-“I believe that a 401(k) goes to the spouse unless the spouse consents to something different. This will include an estranged spouse of many years even if you designate your children. I presume IRAs work the same. There could be some exclusions, but it certainly does not work as simply as that article suggests. If I’m wrong, I’d be shocked.” and “We had a case here where the employee clicked “unmarried” on the recordkeeper website and then designated the long-time girlfriend and his child (with the estranged wife of 8 years) as beneficiaries. He was separated for 8 years and emotionally thought it was done. Well, the estranged wife got it all when he passed. “

Are there different rules on this on IRA’s vs 401(k)? Is the newsletter correct and if so is there a reference I could provide?

Thank you,

Scott