Sometimes conflicting beneficiary designations for 401(k) plan assets can be tough to sort out when a plan participant dies. It took a verdict from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9 th ...

Key Takeaways Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts override your will when it's time to determine who inherits ...

An employer’s retirement plan documents did not incorporate beneficiary designation forms in its language or appendices, so the forms did not govern the award of benefits, a court ruled. A federal ...

An often-neglected area in the world of benefit plan administration is the beneficiary designation form. Many participants complete their beneficiary designations incorrectly because they don’t read ...

In Becker v. Mays-Williams, 13-35069-cv, 2015 WL 348872 (9th Cir. Jan 28, 2015), the Ninth Circuit – in a matter of first impression – concluded that beneficiary designation forms were not “documents ...

A federal district court has ruled for a second time on litigation arising from a dispute over verbal and written beneficiary designations. A thorny Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ...

It may seem like an afterthought, but naming a beneficiary to your retirement account is critical. Here's why.

Properly designating beneficiaries for assets that transfer on death is one of the simplest, and most commonly overlooked, methods to maximize the efficiency of a client’s estate plan. As a recent ...

Most people think their will decides who inherits their assets, but for retirement accounts, life insurance, and certain bank accounts, beneficiary forms rule. Outdated or incorrect forms can send ...

Understand how your 401(k) is handled after your passing, including beneficiary rules and tax implications, to ensure your ...

Wills and trust are often thought of as the main components of an estate plan – the documents that determine who will receive our assets at death. However, simple beneficiary designation forms, which ...