Beneficiary Designation Requirements

[Guest TRUST53]

Does a spouse have to waive beneficiary designation if the 403(B) Account Holder wants to name someone other than the spouse as beneficiary. I know this requirement holds for qualified plans such as 401(k) but am not certain about 403(B)

[Guest Bob Collins]

Is the 403(B) subject to Title I of ERISA?

If yes, spousal consent will apply. If no, then spousal consent generally will not apply.

403(B)s for governmental employers and most churches are not subject to ERISA, but sometimes the spousal consent language is included in the plan document.

If there is a plan document, the rules should be in the document.

[Guest PeterGulia]

Even if the 403(B) contract is not governed by any plan (ERISA or church or government) that imposes a spouse's consent requirement, the participant may want to consider the effect of relevant state law.

Although an insurer or custodian will pay according to its record beneficiary designation, if the participant's spouse did not receive his or her share provided by state law, any distributee may be liable to the participant's executor to the extent that state law provides for a spouse's elective share to be payable from non-probate property. See for example, Uniform Probate Code section 2-204. Likewise, if 403(B) contract payments leave the surviving spouse with less than his or her community property share, the distributees may be liable to account to and pay over to the spouse.

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