I'm surprised I can't find more about this topic when I search the forum.
Most of my money is in taxed deferred 401K or IRA rollover accounts.
I've been told that the defined beneficiaries document associated with these accounts will determine where the money goes when I die, not my will. So this document is basically defining how all of my money will be distributed when I die, except for my house and personal property. It is an important document.
I'm in the process of updating my defined beneficiaries for my two retirement accounts (IRA and 401K). I don't have children, or this would be a slam dunk.
My questions regarding these IRA beneficiary documents:
- If one of the beneficiaries has children, and the beneficiary dies before me, how do I make sure the children get that beneficiaries share?
- If they don't have children, and the beneficiary dies before me, I would want the money to go to the beneficiaries spouse. If their spouse is not alive, how do I make sure the money goes back into the pool of money that is my estate? I don't really want the money to go to their nieces and nephew through marriage. I most likely don't know those people.
- In several cases I want the money to go to the grandchildren if the beneficiary dies. (One nephew is a drug addict) How would I define this?
- The form I have requests the SS number of each beneficiary. I don't have this information, and I don't want to ask family and friends for this. Is this information necessary? Why not just name, relationship and address.
- Has anyone found a very well written example that I could reference? If yes, I'm interested in that. Based on my questions, this document is going to be more detailed than my will.
If you have any other recommendations or things to be concerned about regarding these documents, I'm interested in what you know about this.
Thanks,
JP
Most of my money is in taxed deferred 401K or IRA rollover accounts.
I've been told that the defined beneficiaries document associated with these accounts will determine where the money goes when I die, not my will. So this document is basically defining how all of my money will be distributed when I die, except for my house and personal property. It is an important document.
I'm in the process of updating my defined beneficiaries for my two retirement accounts (IRA and 401K). I don't have children, or this would be a slam dunk.
My questions regarding these IRA beneficiary documents:
- If one of the beneficiaries has children, and the beneficiary dies before me, how do I make sure the children get that beneficiaries share?
- If they don't have children, and the beneficiary dies before me, I would want the money to go to the beneficiaries spouse. If their spouse is not alive, how do I make sure the money goes back into the pool of money that is my estate? I don't really want the money to go to their nieces and nephew through marriage. I most likely don't know those people.
- In several cases I want the money to go to the grandchildren if the beneficiary dies. (One nephew is a drug addict) How would I define this?
- The form I have requests the SS number of each beneficiary. I don't have this information, and I don't want to ask family and friends for this. Is this information necessary? Why not just name, relationship and address.
- Has anyone found a very well written example that I could reference? If yes, I'm interested in that. Based on my questions, this document is going to be more detailed than my will.
If you have any other recommendations or things to be concerned about regarding these documents, I'm interested in what you know about this.
Thanks,
JP