Divorce may divide the house, bank accounts, retirement savings, and debts, but there’s one piece of paperwork that’s surprisingly easy to forget: the beneficiary form you completed years earlier. If your former spouse is still listed, you might assume the divorce automatically erased that designation… or that your will overrides it. Neither assumption is safe because ex-spouse beneficiary rules vary depending on the asset, state law, federal law, plan documents, and even the terms of your divorce. The IRS specifically advises people who divorce and want to change a retirement-plan beneficiary to contact their employer or plan administrator, complete the appropriate forms, and submit them according to the plan’s procedures. The safest approach is remarkably simple: don’t leave the decision for your family, an insurance company, a plan administrator, or a court to untangle after you’re gone.
