Found out my ex-spouse's retirement account has an old beneficiary form I forgot to update

I was digging through my divorce papers from 3 years ago and noticed my 401k from my old job still listed her as 100% beneficiary. Called the plan administrator and they said without a signed waiver post-divorce, state law might default it to her anyway. Has anyone else had to fight to get a beneficiary switched after the decree was signed?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.stella25d ago

Ngl I used to be one of those people who thought divorce papers automatically took care of this stuff. Like you sign the decree and everything just magically transfers over. Then my buddy Dave got burned bad when his ex got his old life insurance payout even though they had been divorced for 4 years. The company said the same thing about needing a signed waiver and honestly it made me realize how crazy outdated these systems are. Lucky for you most plan admins will work with you if you push hard enough and provide a copy of the divorce decree showing the property division. Just don't wait around on this because state laws vary wildly and some of them absolutely default to the named beneficiary no matter what.

jakeb2525d agoTop Commenter

king.stella actually that's a good point about pushing the plan admins, but I think there's a bit more to it with ERISA plans. Those are federally regulated, so even if you show them the divorce decree, they legally have to pay whoever is named on the form unless you get that waiver signed. State laws don't override that stuff, which is where Dave probably got caught.