Estate planning at Alerus

Log in to My Alerus at login.alerus.com, select your plan under Accounts, click Plan Summary, then select Manage Beneficiaries. You can add, edit, or remove primary and secondary beneficiaries online. Per stirpes designations are supported by including the designation after the beneficiary name. You can also call Alerus at 800-433-1685 to request a paper form.

No. Employer-sponsored retirement accounts such as 401(k), 403(b), defined benefit, and cash balance plans cannot be retitled to a trust during the account owner's lifetime. The recommended approach for estate planning is to name the trust as the account beneficiary.

For ERISA-covered retirement plans (such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans), married participants must obtain spousal consent if naming someone other than their spouse as the primary beneficiary. The spouse becomes the automatic primary beneficiary upon marriage unless a notarized waiver exists.

A cash balance plan is a hybrid retirement plan that combines features of defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Participants have an individual account balance that grows with employer contributions and guaranteed interest credits, while the employer bears the investment risk. Alerus provides full design, administration, and recordkeeping for cash balance plans.

Alerus administers 401(k), Safe Harbor, profit sharing, defined benefit, cash balance, 403(b), and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). They provide recordkeeping, trustee, and custody services as well as plan design, compliance testing, and participant communication tools.

Visit login.alerus.com to access the My Alerus portal. First-time users must set up online access by following the prompts to validate their account. Once logged in, you can view account balances, manage contributions, change investments, update beneficiaries, and request distributions.