"A participant in an ERISA 403b plan passes away. She named her spouse as beneficiary and son as contingent beneficiary. Years before her passing, she divorced then remarried, but never changed the beneficiary form. Is the beneficiary form with the ex-spouse still applicable under ERISA? This is taking place in New York, which has a divorce revocation statute, which would seem to no longer permit the ex-spouse to be a beneficiary. But would NY state law take precedent over ERISA if ERISA would call for the ex-spouse to be the beneficiary, since the form was never changed? And if the ex-spouse is not the beneficiary, would the contigent beneficiary (the son) now be the beneficiary would the current spouse be the beneficiary? I am not sure if a QDRO was ever produced after the divorce. We are having an attorney look into this but I was hoping for any comments on this as we go along."

"Post SECURE Act/IRS Proposed Regs re: successor beneficiaries is making my head spin -- Scenario

• Traditional IRA owner, dies pre-SECURE Act & before their RBD
• Original designated beneficiary was 'stretching' payouts & died in 2022

Questions: Its my understanding the successor beneficiary is subject to the 10 year payout (which in this case -- year 1 is 2023) I am struggling to get an answer re: whether RMDs are required in the 10 years and if so -- whose life expectancy is used? Pre-SECURE the successor bene 'Stepped into the shoes' of the original beneficiary and continued the 'stretch' using the remaining life expectancy of the original beneficiary -- easy enough. The IRS proposed regs (at least my interpretation) say the RMDs (during the 10 years) are dependent on when the account owner died -- before/after their RBD. Does this mean (in this situation) the Successor Bene does not take RMDs? In other words RMDs stop. Which doesn't seem to make sense? Or does the successor beneficiary continue taking RMDs based on the original (designated) beneficiary's life expectancy for years 1-9 & drain the inherited account in year 10?"