Checklist · Wills and Estates

Auditing and Correcting Your Beneficiary Designations: A Practical Checklist

29 U.S.C. § 1055

Type
Checklist
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2025-07-26
Topic
Wills and Estates

This checklist is a ninety-minute audit of every instrument that controls where your assets go. Part 1 builds the inventory, including the accounts people forget. Part 2 finds and reads each current designation. Parts 3 through 6 fix retirement accounts, insurance, bank and brokerage accounts, and real property in turn, with the spousal consent and contingent beneficiary steps that are most often missed. Part 7 covers trusts, funding, and trusts named as beneficiaries. Part 8 coordinates the result with the will. Part 9 covers confirmation and storage. Part 10 lists the life events that require a repeat. The final parts cover what an executor does after a death and the mistakes this audit exists to prevent.

Auditing and Correcting Your Beneficiary Designations: A Practical Checklist

Wills and Estates > Beneficiary Designations and Non-Probate Transfers | Published 26 July 2025 - Updated 27 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

How to Use This Checklist

Set aside ninety minutes and work Parts 1 through 9 in order. Doctrine is in the comprehensive guide; the orientation piece is the form that beats the will; the inventory and letters are in the toolkit.

⚠️ Your will does not control most of this. Whoever is named on the form receives the money, even if the will says otherwise.

Part 1 — Build the Inventory

☐ Current employer retirement plan — 401(k), 403(b), 457, pension, employee stock plan.

☐ Every former employer's plan. These are the most commonly stale designations in existence. Check old statements, tax returns, and the national registry of unclaimed retirement benefits.

☐ Every individual retirement account, traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE, at every institution.

☐ Rollover accounts. A rollover creates a new account that carries over no beneficiary designation.

☐ Life insurance: individual policies, employer group coverage, association or union coverage, mortgage or credit life, and any policy purchased decades ago and forgotten.

☐ Annuities, with the payout election noted.

☐ Health savings accounts and flexible arrangements.

☐ Bank and credit union accounts, with any payable-on-death designation.

☐ Brokerage accounts, with any transfer-on-death registration.

☐ Real property, with the exact form of title from the deed — joint tenancy with survivorship, tenancy by the entirety, tenancy in common, or trust.

☐ Vehicles, boats, and trailers, and whether the state permits beneficiary registration.

☐ Business interests, and what the operating or shareholder agreement says happens at death.

☐ Digital accounts with a legacy contact or inactive account manager feature.

☐ Savings bonds, 529 plans, and any account held for a child.

☐ Safe deposit boxes and who has access.

Part 2 — Read Every Current Designation

☐ Log in to each account and find the beneficiary page. Do not rely on memory.

☐ Write down the primary beneficiary exactly as named.

☐ Write down the contingent beneficiary. If blank, mark it — this is the most common defect.

☐ Note the percentages and confirm they total 100.

☐ Note the per stirpes or per capita election, or that it is blank.

☐ Note the date of the designation. Anything predating a marriage, divorce, birth, or job change needs attention.

☐ For real property, pull the actual deed, not the tax bill. The form of title is on the deed.

☐ For any trust, confirm which accounts are actually titled in it.

☐ Flag every designation naming: a former spouse, a deceased person, a minor, "my estate," or no one.

Part 3 — Fix the Retirement Accounts

☐ Name a primary and a contingent beneficiary on every account.

☐ Use full legal names, relationships, and dates of birth.

☐ Make the per stirpes election if you want a deceased child's share to pass to that child's children.

☐ If you are married and want to name anyone other than your spouse on an employer plan, obtain your spouse's written consent in the plan's required form, witnessed by a plan representative or notary, per 29 U.S.C. § 1055.

☐ Understand that IRAs do not require spousal consent in common-law states — and that community property states impose their own limits.

☐ Do not name a minor directly. Use a custodian under the state's transfers-to-minors act or a trust.

☐ Do not name your estate unless counsel has told you to. It forces probate, exposes the account to creditors, and worsens the distribution rules under 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9).

☐ If a beneficiary receives means-tested benefits, name a properly drafted special needs trust instead. See the special needs checklist.

☐ If you are naming a trust, use its exact name and date, and have the trust reviewed for this purpose.

☐ Remember that a divorce decree does not change an employer plan designation. Submit a new form.

☐ Repeat for every old employer's plan, and consider consolidating them by rollover — then immediately designate beneficiaries on the new account.

Part 4 — Fix the Insurance

☐ Name a primary and a contingent beneficiary on every policy.

☐ Check employer group coverage, which is usually in a benefits portal and is the single most commonly forgotten form.

☐ Check any coverage through an association, union, credit card, or mortgage.

☐ Do not name your estate. Proceeds payable to a named beneficiary are exempt from your creditors in most states; payable to the estate, they are not.

☐ If a divorce decree requires you to maintain coverage, confirm the policy is in force, name the required beneficiary, and provide proof.

☐ If you are the intended beneficiary under a decree, ask for an irrevocable designation and annual proof of coverage.

☐ For federal employees and servicemembers, understand that 5 U.S.C. § 8705 and 38 U.S.C. § 1970 make the form on file controlling, and that state divorce revocation statutes do not apply.

☐ Review any policy owned by a trust to confirm ownership and beneficiary are as intended, and note the estate tax consequences under 26 U.S.C. § 2042 if you retain incidents of ownership.

☐ Check annuity payout elections, which can eliminate a death benefit entirely.

Part 5 — Fix the Bank and Brokerage Accounts

☐ Add a payable-on-death designation to bank accounts you want to pass directly.

☐ Add transfer-on-death registration to brokerage accounts.

☐ Name contingents on both.

☐ Reconsider every joint account. Adding a joint owner gives that person the right to withdraw everything today and exposes the funds to their creditors and divorce.

☐ If the purpose is bill-paying, use a convenience account where your state offers one, or a durable power of attorney.

☐ Check that percentages total 100 and that names are complete.

☐ Confirm the institution's default if no beneficiary survives. It is usually the estate.

☐ Check accounts opened decades ago, including credit union accounts and certificates.

Part 6 — Fix the Real Property

☐ Pull the deed for every parcel and read the form of title.

☐ Understand the difference: joint tenancy with right of survivorship and tenancy by the entirety pass to the survivor; tenancy in common does not and passes through the estate.

☐ Consider a transfer-on-death deed where your state authorizes one. It must be recorded before death.

☐ Name an alternate beneficiary in the transfer-on-death deed.

☐ Confirm the mortgage's due-on-sale provision before retitling.

☐ Confirm the effect on homestead exemption and property tax assessment.

☐ Check whether your state's Medicaid estate recovery reaches non-probate property. See the long-term care guide.

☐ Do not create a joint tenancy with a child as an estate planning shortcut without understanding the gift, creditor, and basis consequences.

☐ Coordinate with any trust. A parcel cannot be both deeded to a trust and subject to a transfer-on-death deed.

Part 7 — Trusts

☐ If you have a revocable trust, confirm it is funded. List every account and confirm the title.

☐ An unfunded trust is worse than none — it produces both a probate and a trust administration.

☐ Confirm the trustee and successor trustee are still appropriate and still willing.

☐ If a trust is named as a beneficiary of a retirement account, confirm it satisfies the requirements to be treated as having designated beneficiaries and review it against the current ten-year distribution rule.

☐ Distinguish conduit from accumulation provisions and confirm the result is what you intend.

☐ Confirm the trust's exact name and date appear on every designation naming it.

☐ Review any trust drafted more than five years ago against current distribution rules.

Part 8 — Coordinate With the Will

☐ Read the will and the designations side by side.

☐ Ask: does the overall result match what the will describes? If not, fix one or the other.

☐ If unequal treatment is intended, say so expressly in the will so it reads as deliberate.

☐ Account for taxes. A traditional retirement account and a bank account of the same size are not equal after tax.

☐ Confirm the estate will have liquidity to pay debts, taxes, and administration expenses after the non-probate assets pass.

☐ Read the tax apportionment clause and confirm it does not push the tax onto beneficiaries who received comparatively little.

☐ Confirm your durable power of attorney says what you want about whether an agent may change designations — the default in most forms is that they may not.

☐ Confirm your health care directive and incapacity documents are current. Beneficiary designations do nothing about incapacity.

Part 9 — Confirm and Store

☐ Submit every change through the required channel, not by mailing a form to a general address.

☐ Obtain written confirmation showing the effective date and the beneficiaries of record.

☐ Keep the confirmations together with the will and trust.

☐ Tell your executor where the file is.

☐ Give each institution's contact information in the same file.

☐ Create a one-page summary listing each asset, the controlling instrument, and the current beneficiary.

☐ Do not put the only copy in a safe deposit box that no one can open without a court order.

Part 10 — Repeat After Any of These

☐ Marriage ☐ Divorce or legal separation ☐ Birth or adoption of a child ☐ Death of a named beneficiary ☐ A beneficiary's disability or start of means-tested benefits ☐ A beneficiary's divorce, bankruptcy, or creditor problem ☐ Any job change ☐ Any rollover ☐ Any account consolidation ☐ Purchase or sale of real property ☐ A move to a different state ☐ A change in the tax rules governing retirement distributions ☐ Every year, as a fifteen-minute check

Part 11 — For the Executor After a Death

☐ Separate probate from non-probate assets before doing anything else.

☐ Contact each institution with a certified death certificate; ask for the beneficiary of record, the balance, and the claim procedure, in writing.

☐ Do not distribute from the estate until debts, taxes, and liquidity are known.

☐ For retirement accounts, act carefully: elections are frequently irrevocable, and a distribution taken by mistake cannot be undone.

☐ Where a trust is the beneficiary, deliver the required documentation to the administrator before the deadline.

☐ Consider a disclaimer where redirecting an asset is appropriate — the deadline is generally nine months and acceptance forecloses it.

☐ If a designation appears wrong, give written notice of the claim before payment. After payment, the claim is against the recipient.

☐ Keep a written record of every contact, response, and distribution.

☐ Do not use the decedent's accounts or cards for anything not legally authorized.

Part 12 — Mistakes This Audit Prevents

☐ An ex-spouse receiving a retirement account because a divorce decree does not change an ERISA plan form. ☐ No contingent beneficiary, sending the asset to the estate. ☐ A minor named directly, producing a court-supervised guardianship and full distribution at eighteen. ☐ The estate named, forcing probate, exposing the asset to creditors, and worsening the tax treatment. ☐ A disabled beneficiary losing means-tested benefits because of an outright inheritance. ☐ A rollover account with no beneficiary at all. ☐ A trust signed but never funded. ☐ A trust named as beneficiary that does not qualify under 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9). ☐ A joint account added for convenience that becomes an outright gift to one child. ☐ A transfer-on-death deed executed but never recorded. ☐ Percentages that do not total 100. ☐ A blank per stirpes election producing a result nobody intended. ☐ A will that divides everything equally, contradicted by designations that do not.

Part 13 — The Authorities Behind Each Step

Useful when you need to explain to an institution, a family member, or a court why a step matters.

☐ The plan document controls an employer plan. 29 U.S.C. § 1104(a)(1)(D) requires fiduciaries to follow plan documents; Kennedy applies it to beneficiary designations.

☐ State divorce revocation statutes do not reach employer plans. 29 U.S.C. § 1144 preempts; Egelhoff so holds.

☐ A community property claim does not defeat an employer plan designation. Boggs.

☐ A state court order cannot redirect servicemembers' group life insurance. 38 U.S.C. § 1970; Ridgway; Wissner.

☐ Federal employees' group life insurance follows the statutory order of precedence. 5 U.S.C. § 8705.

☐ Spousal consent is required to name a non-spouse on a qualified plan. 29 U.S.C. § 1055.

☐ A state statute revoking an ex-spouse designation may apply retroactively. Sveen v. Melin.

☐ Retirement distributions follow the required distribution rules. 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9), with income taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 402 and § 408.

☐ Avoiding probate does not avoid estate tax. 26 U.S.C. § 2033, § 2039, and § 2042.

☐ A benefits claim against a plan runs under ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1132, after exhausting the claims procedure required by 29 U.S.C. § 1133.

☐ Competing claims to one fund are frequently interpleaded. 28 U.S.C. § 1335, Rule 22, and 28 U.S.C. § 2361.

☐ ERISA definitions, including what is a covered plan, appear at 29 U.S.C. § 1002.

Part 14 — Decision Trees

Who should I name?

  1. A spouse? For an employer plan, the spouse is the default and consent is required to name anyone else. For everything else, it is a choice.
  2. Adult children? Name them individually with dates of birth, add a per stirpes election, and add contingents.
  3. A minor? Never directly. Use a custodian under the transfers-to-minors act, or a trust.
  4. Someone receiving disability or means-tested benefits? A properly drafted special needs trust, not the person.
  5. Someone with creditor or divorce problems? A trust, so the funds are not received outright.
  6. A charity? Consider directing a traditional retirement account there, since the charity pays no income tax on it and family members would.
  7. Your estate? Only if counsel has a specific reason.

Joint account or payable-on-death?

  1. Do you want this person to have access to the money now? If no → payable-on-death, which conveys nothing during life.
  2. Do you need help paying bills? → A convenience account where your state offers one, or a durable power of attorney.
  3. Do you understand that a joint owner can withdraw the entire balance today, and that their creditors and divorce reach it? If that is unacceptable → not a joint account.
  4. Is this real property? → Joint titling is a present gift with basis, creditor, and gift-tax consequences. Consider a transfer-on-death deed instead.

Do I need spousal consent?

  1. Employer plan (401(k), 403(b), pension) and you are married and naming someone other than your spouse? → Yes, in the plan's form, witnessed. 29 U.S.C. § 1055.
  2. IRA in a common-law state? → No federal requirement.
  3. IRA in a community property state? → The community interest applies and the custodian may require consent.
  4. Life insurance or a bank account in a community property state? → The community interest limits what you may direct away from the spouse.

Did my divorce fix this?

  1. Employer plan or federal insurance? → No. Submit a new form today.
  2. Individually owned life insurance or an IRA, in a state with a revocation statute? → Probably, but do not rely on it.
  3. Did the decree require you to keep the ex-spouse named? → Then the statute does not apply and the decree controls.
  4. Did you name the ex-spouse after the divorce? → That is treated as deliberate.
  5. Separated but not divorced? → Nothing has changed. The designation stands.

Is my trust actually going to work?

  1. Is it signed? 2. Is each intended account retitled into it? 3. Does the deed to your home name the trust? 4. If it is named as a beneficiary of a retirement account, does it qualify under 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9)? 5. Was it drafted before the ten-year distribution rule, and has it been reviewed since? 6. Does every designation naming it use its exact name and date?

If any answer is no, that is the item to fix first.

Part 15 — The One-Page Summary to Leave Behind

Complete this and store it with your will. It is the single most useful document your executor will receive.

Asset Institution Account (last 4) What controls it Primary beneficiary Contingent Last confirmed
401(k) — current employer Beneficiary form
401(k) — [prior employer] Beneficiary form
IRA Beneficiary form
Roth IRA Beneficiary form
Life insurance — individual Policy designation
Life insurance — employer Policy designation
Annuity Contract
Health savings account Beneficiary form
Checking POD designation
Savings POD designation
Brokerage TOD registration
Home — [address] Deed: [form of title]
Rental — [address] Deed: [form of title]
Vehicle Title / beneficiary registration
Business interest Operating agreement § __
Everything else Will

Where the documents are: [location]. Who has a copy: [names]. Attorney: [name, contact]. Accountant: [name, contact]. Financial advisor: [name, contact].

☐ Update this page whenever you change anything.

☐ Give a copy to the person named as executor, and to a second trusted person.

☐ Do not store the only copy where no one can reach it without a court order.

⭐ A closing note. The value of this audit is not in the fixing; it is in the finding. Nearly everyone who completes it discovers at least one designation that would have sent money to the wrong person — an old employer's plan, a rollover with no beneficiary, an insurance policy naming someone who died years ago. Finding those takes ninety minutes. Litigating them after a death takes two years and a substantial fraction of the money.

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