Beneficiary Question

Submitted by Kevin O'Hearn on Tue, 2024-02-06 16:55

Hello,

I have a client (Bob) who had a 401k. He was unmarried and named his sister as the beneficiary. Five years later he got married, but never changed the beneficiary to his new spouse.

Now Bob has died. I know spouses are the default beneficiary of ERISA 401k plans. In this case:

1. Would the sister still be entitled to the assets since she was named as a bene while Bob was unmarried?

2. Or….is the surviving spouse automatically deemed the beneficiary, even though she wasn’t named, and the sister would be disregarded?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2024-02-06 17:12

  1. No, unless Bob was not married for at least one year before passing and the plan specified that the spouse was not the required beneficiary for that one year period. 
  2. SS is the beneficiary unless she signed a waiver that was accepted by the plan or the one year period referred to above applied to the plan.
  3. There have been cases like this where the death benefit was mistakenly paid to a non spouse, and the spouse then successfully filed lawsuits to recover the funds. 

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