I don't feel that strongly about it to take those steps. The stepchild will be inheriting $ and property from his mother, so my wish would be to have my retirement accounts go to the children from our marriage, but if that doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.And assuming it goes to husband, your further desires or even instructions carry no weight. Whether they get rolled into his current account or not, they are all now his account and will flow as he designates the beneficiaries or as designated in his will or per intestate rules of succession. Your current instructions, contingent beneficiaries or will all carry no weight once the money is his.Contingent beneficiaries are not successor beneficiaries. Your spouse will have to designate new beneficiaries after inheritance.So in my case, I have a stepchild who will inherit 1/3 of spouse's 401K, the other 2/3 will go to the 2 children from our marriage, assuming I predecease my spouse. My retirement accounts have my husband as primary and the 2 children born during our marriage as the contingent beneficiaries. If I go before my spouse, even if the accounts are kept where they are and not rolled into his as I have specified in instructions, I can see where it could get easily changed to per stirpes. This would result in the stepchild inheriting 1/3 of the account after my spouse dies. Not what I would want. BTW, stepchild is aware of all this already.
If you want to ensure none of you assets go to step son, you basically need a trust. It would be difficult even with a trust if those beneficiaries wanted to give some to step child.
Statistics: Posted by KESP — Mon Jul 08, 2024 10:46 am — Replies 40 — Views 2616