Beneficiary Designation Forms
The following edited article from USA Today convincingly illustrates the importance of beneficiary designation forms. A Widow’s Tale of Woe demonstrates the importance of beneficiary designation forms for your retirement plans and the necessity to have them available to your beneficiaries when the need arises.
Unfortunately, many retirement providers do not provide copies of signed beneficiary designation forms to plan participants. Therefore, the plan participant never has a copy of the form available for their review and safekeeping.
Every person with an IRA, a 401k, or a corporate retirement plan must take the following steps to ensure their plan benefits can be timely and correctly paid to their plan beneficiaries:
- Get acknowledged copies of their current beneficiary designations;
- Destroy outdated beneficiary designations;
- Keep their beneficiary designations current; and
- Make certain their beneficiaries will be able to access their post-death retirement plan benefits.
No one would want to leave their family members in the situation faced by this widow.
