Age of beneficiary at time of death

[Zorro1k]

For deceased participant who died before receiving benefits, if a plan has a default beneficiary for an unmarried participant for children under 21, am I correct in thinking that this refers to the age of the child at the time of the participant's death?

If so, where is the support for that?

[david rigby]

IMHO, the context is meaningful only if referring to the child at the time of participant's death?

[Zorro1k]

So if the child was under 21 at the time of death the child is a beneficiary.

[david rigby]

You might have some pushback over 21 vs. 18. Married?

Was the plan drafted by an experienced attorney?

[Zorro1k]

Child wasn't married at the time to my knowledge. Yes, drafted by an experienced attorney.

[My 2 cents]

1. How does the plan define beneficiary or the death benefit payable when the participant is unmarried at the time of death?

2. What happens if the participant is not survived by either a spouse or children under the age of 21?

3. Whether the child is married or not could only matter if the plan contains explicit language covering that point. If drafted by an experienced attorney, if the plan refers to dependent children, it should explicitly state what exactly that would mean.

4. If it were a defined benefit plan, as often as not any survivor benefits payable to minor children would stop when the child reaches age 21. It is even possible that if the child marries before 21, then the payments would stop, but that would happen only if the plan said so.

[Zorro1k]

1&2. Defined under QPSA section if the participant is unmarried with a vested interest and has a child 21 or younger benefit is payable to child that would have been payable to spouse. There is no other default beneficiary listed (and no other beneficiary designated).

4. It is a DB plan.

[My 2 cents]

1&2. Defined under QPSA section if the participant is unmarried with a vested interest and has a child 21 or younger benefit is payable to child that would have been payable to spouse. There is no other default beneficiary listed (and no other beneficiary designated).

4. It is a DB plan.

Not surprised to hear that it is a defined benefit plan. Don't otherwise-vested account balances under defined contributions always get paid in full when the participant dies?

My vote is for age as of date of death unless the plan clearly provides otherwise. The beneficiary's status would be locked in as of the date the participant died, irrespective of the extent to which there would be reasonable administrative delay. If the eligibility decision is not as of the date of death, when else?

Does the plan pay lifetime survivor benefits to someone who was a child under 21 when the participant died or are they only temporary until attainment of age 21? If only until age 21, then if the child had reached age 21 by the time the benefits were processed, then only back payments would be required for the period from the participant's death to the date the child attained age 21.