Death Benefit Payout Periods under SECURE Act

I haven't seen a lot of discussion of this issue. That's likely because of at least two reasons: first, in DC plans where most people terminate and take a full distribution on or before NRD, there are thankfully relatively few death distributions, and second, Covid has thrown everything into a tizzy this year.

At any rate, recordkeepers are beginning to send out their "default" provisions - so it seems like a good time to think about the subject in more detail.

My own preference, from a plan admin point of view, and for most of our clients, is the desire to get such amounts paid out of the plan sooner rather than later. Beneficiaries GENERALLY want the full lump sum amounts ASAP (whether in cash or rolled to an IRA) so I'm really talking about a limited number of situations. Do you plan to allow the full range of allowable distribution options, or restrict it to a lesser time period (for example, the current 5-year limit)?

Interesting question; hadn't thought about it.  As you note, it's not all that frequent.  We'll probably offer whatever the law allows just to avoid confusion.  

Even with the PPA restatements, most of our plans provided for the payment of the death benefit to be made within 5 years.