We were consulted recently by a personal representative of an estate concerning the decedent's death beneficiary of his 401(K) retirement plan. The decedent had married before ERISA became law, but executed a beneficiary form shortly afterward naming his then spouse. Later he divorced that spouse with a property settlement agreement by which spouse waived all rights to his ERISA retirement. The decree of divorce, naturally terminated her status as a spouse. But the decedent never bothered to execute a beneficiary designation naming a substitute. As the reader might suspect, decedent dies with his former wife's name on the form he executed forty years earlier.
So, the personal representative (e.g., executor) makes claim on the pension as part of the decedent's estate. The surviving non-spouse intervenes to say "Not so...
