Most Americans believe their will distributes their estate, but that's not the case with retirement accounts, life insurance, and more.

The trouble began when Ed was ailing, and his wife, Val, was incapacitated. A family member, acting under power of attorney, ...

While in the process of divorcing, your attorney will remind you that you cannot change beneficiary designations on your accounts until the divorce is finalized. It is not uncommon to want to put the ...

A retirement account can bypass nearly every document in an estate plan with a single outdated form. Millions of Americans ...

Beneficiary designations are an essential component of every estate plan; however, these designations are often overlooked. As a bit of background, there is a distinction between probate assets and ...

Benefit administrators, 401(k) vendors, recordkeepers and benefits professionals regularly recommend that participants in qualified retirement plans periodically review and update their beneficiary ...

Designations are made by assigning a percentage of assets to the beneficiary or successor using a form that is entirely separate from your will or living trust. Designations come in several forms ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts override your will when it's time to determine who inherits your funds. Many people forget to update beneficiary forms, which leads to unintended ...