Ex wife 401k beneficiary of abandon 401k?

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slinky94

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My former spouse and I have been divorced 12 years. Upon our divorce, we both were ordered to "keep" our own 401k accounts. He never changed his beneficiary designation afterward, due to the fact we have a child. (No order in our divorce decree for this designation, it was just his choice). He left the job which holds the account about 10 years ago and never contributed to the account again and did not roll it over to his new job. In June, 2009, he remarried. In September, 2009, he separated...he was due to divorce Jan 2010. Sadly, he committed suicide in Dec 2009. Who should receive the 401k distribution? As he was married less than a year and no marital funds were placed into the account, does spousal status "trump" beneficiary designation in this case?
 
This could be a contested situation.

The 401k will no doubt pay the funds according to the beneficiary designation.

Make a claim for the funds and see what they say.

It might be easier than you're imagining.


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Sorry, but I have to disagree with Army in this case. Unlike a life insurance policy where the beneficiary can be anyone the owner of the policy wishes regardless of marital status, Federal law requires that if the subject of a 401k policy is married, the spouse MUST be the beneficiary unless the spouse has signed an acknowledgement that it is someone else. If he had not remarried then the original beneficiary would stand, but since he did, the beneficiary would be the current spouse, by law, regardless.
 
A quick note about life insurance beneficiary status in the state of Washington. My ex-husband also left me listed as the life insurance beneficiary for the same reason stated above, to protect our child. In this state, if a spouse is named beneficiary prior to divorce, and the policy holder wishes them to remain the beneficiary post divorce, they must re-designate that person after the divorce is final. A decree of divorce automatically negates the beneficiary status. I found this out the hard way, as the life insurance now goes to the estate, since he left no will. Half of the policy proceeds will be awarded to the new wife even though they were separated for 3 months of their 6 month marriage and due to be divorced within a couple of weeks of his death.
 
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