How to designate beneficiaries at Alight

Alight administers the plan; the employer is the plan administrator. Beneficiary rules, forms, and whether a trust may be named come from the employer's plan document, so they vary from one Alight-hosted plan to the next.¹

Alight Financial Solutions forms (the IRA Designation of Beneficiary and the Transfer on Death Agreements) apply to AFS-held IRA and brokerage accounts, not to employer plan accounts.²

An Alight IRA or AFS retirement account is designated on the IRA Designation of Beneficiary form (IRA-DB 2023), which is for AFS-held accounts, not employer plan accounts.³

A taxable AFS individual or joint brokerage account uses a Transfer on Death Agreement (Individual or Joint) rather than the IRA beneficiary form.²

On the AFS beneficiary form, an individual is one of the four standard designations BNY Pershing accepts.³

On the AFS beneficiary form, a group such as a charity is one of the four standard designations BNY Pershing accepts.³

A "specifically dated trust, subject to proper qualification" is a standard designation on the AFS form. The trust's date goes in the Date of Trust field with the trust type and tax ID.³

An undated or unnamed trust falls out of the standard category and goes on Pershing's Designation of Customized Beneficiary form.³

To leave an AFS retirement account to the estate, write in "Estate" as the primary beneficiary. AFS states that "per will" designations are not acceptable.³

On an employer plan, primary and contingent beneficiaries are named with percentage allocations.¹

If percentages are left blank on the AFS form, payment is made to the surviving beneficiaries in equal shares.³

A married participant naming anyone other than the spouse on an ERISA plan (401(k), pension), including naming a trust ahead of the spouse, needs the spouse's written consent, witnessed by a notary or a plan representative.¹

The AFS form requires spousal consent in the community or marital property states it names: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA and WI. A married owner there naming someone other than the spouse as sole primary beneficiary needs the spouse's signature.³

The spouse's signature on the AFS form must be made before a notary public where the state requires it.³

For IRAs. Completed by the account owner. Available to download.³

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For employer retirement plans. Completed by the participant. Sent by the institution on request.¹

For employer retirement plans. Completed by the participant's spouse. Sent by the institution on request.¹

For investment accounts. Available to download.²

For investment accounts. Available to download.²

For IRAs. Sent by the institution on request.³

A beneficiary designation controls over a will. Updating your will does not change who receives the plan account.¹

Per stirpes is an election, not a default. If a beneficiary dies first and per stirpes was not elected, AFS applies the plan document's rules on distribution.³

An employer plan account (401(k), 403(b), 457, pension, NQDC) cannot be retitled into a living trust. The only way to connect it to a trust is to name the trust as beneficiary.¹

An IRA cannot be retitled into a living trust. The only way to connect it to a trust is to name the trust as beneficiary.³

A taxable Alight Financial Solutions individual or joint brokerage account is the account holder's own property and can be retitled into a revocable trust, or carry a Transfer on Death Agreement instead.²

A taxable Alight Financial Solutions brokerage account is retitled by opening the account in the trust's name and moving the assets across.²