How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Alerus

Checking, savings, money market and CD accounts take pay-on-death beneficiaries, recorded on the account signature card. They are added or changed by phone or at an Alerus office.¹

Retirement plan beneficiaries are managed in My Alerus, under Plan Summary and then Manage Beneficiaries, or on a paper form requested by phone.^{2, 3}

HSA beneficiaries are added in My Alerus under Profile Summary, or on the HSA Designation or Change of Beneficiary Form sent by mail or email.^{2, 4}

A trust can be named as a retirement plan beneficiary with documentation creating the trust: a signed separate trust agreement, or a will with trust provisions.³

Alerus Retirement and Benefits accepts will provisions creating a testamentary trust as the documentation creating the trust.³

Alerus warns that naming your estate as beneficiary will in many cases limit the taxation and distribution options available at your death.³

If you are single and then marry, your new spouse becomes your primary beneficiary by default.³

Primary and secondary beneficiaries are named with percentage allocations.^{2, 3}

Primary and secondary beneficiaries are named with percentage allocations.²

Unless your spouse consents by notarized waiver, you cannot designate someone else as the primary beneficiary of your retirement plan account.³

An accountholder married in common law or in a community or marital property state must name the spouse as primary beneficiary unless the spouse signs the consent section. The spouse's signature must be notarized.⁴

For health savings accounts. Available to download.⁴

Return to

For employer retirement plans. Sent by the institution on request.³

Return to

Per stirpes is not a default: the plan pays only primary beneficiaries living at your death, then contingents. To pass a deceased beneficiary's share to that beneficiary's own children, Alerus instructs writing "per stirpes" after each beneficiary's name.³

A divorce does not automatically remove a former spouse from an existing retirement plan designation.³

Under section 11.17 of the HSA custodial agreement, dissolution, termination or annulment of your marriage automatically revokes all HSA beneficiary designations, primary and contingent. The HSA is treated as having no beneficiary until you file a new one.⁶

Deposit accounts can be retitled into a revocable trust. Under the Consumer Terms and Conditions, an account may be opened and maintained by a person named as trustee under a written trust agreement, as a fiduciary account.⁷

Retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, ESOP, defined benefit, cash balance) cannot be retitled to a trust. The trust can be named as beneficiary instead.³

The HSA cannot be retitled to a trust. The trust can be named as beneficiary instead.³

For managed investment accounts, Alerus Wealth opens or retitles accounts in the trust's name and can also serve in a trustee or fiduciary role.⁸

Sent by the institution on request.¹

Return to

Opening a trust-titled deposit account does not make Alerus a trustee, and Alerus does not undertake to monitor or enforce the trust's terms.⁷