US Supreme Court Awards $402,000 Pension to Ex-Spouse Despite Divorce Settlement

Article by BPBS attorney Joseph Jaap, 513 533-2037

Are your Beneficiary Designations up to date? In a recent Supreme Court case the designations were not, so an ex-spouse collected a huge pension account from DuPont, even though that ex-spouse had waived all rights to the pension in the divorce settlement.

Life insurance policies, 401ks, savings and investment accounts, health savings accounts, employee benefit plans, pension plans, and many other financial accounts require the designation of a primary beneficiary and a secondary beneficiary. Wills, trusts, and other estate planning tools also require current designations. It is essential to proper estate planning to keep those up to date as family situations change with marriage, divorce, death of a beneficiary, children reaching age 18, etc.

Failure to keep those designations current can cause problems that will require legal action to correct, such as benefits being designated to a beneficiary who may be long-deceased. Some other problems cannot be corrected, as in the Supreme Court case awarding benefits to an ex-spouse as noted above.

Your proper estate planning requires frequent review. Contact your BPBS attorney at 721-1350 to establish or review your estate plan to avoid potential unintended consequences that could leave your family in financial distress without the money it needs.