I'm middle-aged and getting married soon for the first time. My fiance has already been added (by me) as a beneficiary to some of my bank/investment accounts, but I now think this is the wrong approach.
It seems that "retirement" account trustees require a spouses signature/permission to change beneficiaries if you're married(e.g. IRA, 401K). Given this fact it seems like it is smarter/better to remove my fiance as a beneficiary from my retirement accounts before getting married (and not add her after I'm married either), and handle this in a will. In other words, before marriage I should remove ALL beneficiaries and, if I wish, change my Will to bequeath my retirement accounts to her. My reasoning is that I can change my will any time as I wish without anyone's permission (outside of the MA minimum spousal share).
Given the restriction on changing retirement account beneficiaries, it seems that this approach should be standard advice. Is my analysis correct?
Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 07/20/2011 - 01:19