Beneficiary Designation - Protected Benefit?

[Guest MOY]

I have a DB plan that was recently restated. Under the old plan, a married participant could designate a non-spouse for his or her survivor benefit at any time (while an employee, terminated vested, or retiree), assuming appropriate spousal consent, etc. When the plan was restated, the company decided that it would let employees and retirees continue to designate non-spouses to receive the benefit, but that terminated vested participants would be restricted to having the benefit paid to the spouse.

My question is whether this elimination of the ability to designate a non-spouse beneficiary for the survivor benefit has run afoul of the protected benefit rules under 411(d)(6)? Do we need to protect the ability for the term. vested to designate a non-spouse generally, to preserve the right merely for the benefit accrued before restatement, or does it not matter at all?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[JanetM]

IMHO that elimiates an optional form of benefit and does run afoul of 411(d)6. In addition, you may also have a BRF issues if they try to give actives and retires one set of options and deferred vested another.