Estate planning at Empower
How to protect 13 Empower accounts — manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust by mail, and file death claims
Beneficiary Support Services
Empower, P.O. Box 173764, Denver, CO 80217-3764. Express mail: Empower, 8515 E. Orchard Rd., Greenwood Village, CO 80111.
Empower is a retirement provider managing 13 retirement retirement accounts. These tax-advantaged accounts transfer by beneficiary designation—not by will—making it critical to keep designations current and aligned with broader estate planning goals.
Managing beneficiaries at Empower is straightforward—changes can be made online, by mail, and by phone, typically taking 10-15 minutes online; 15-30 minutes by mail. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to name a trust as the beneficiary of retirement accounts.
Empower has documented procedures for both preparing accounts during your lifetime and handling claims when an account holder passes away.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust by mail, and review 13 account types at Empower.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
8-step process, 7 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Frequently asked questions
On the ERISA-covered employer plans Empower recordkeeps — 401(k), 403(b), and defined benefit/pension plans — federal law requires your spouse's written consent before you can name anyone else as primary beneficiary, and that consent must be witnessed by a notary public or a plan representative. A consent your spouse signs alone is not valid: without it, the plan document treats the surviving spouse as the beneficiary and Empower pays the spouse no matter what the designation on file says. Empower IRAs, the Empower Investment Account, Empower Personal Wealth brokerage accounts, and Empower Personal Cash do not carry the federal spousal-consent rule, though state community property law can still give a spouse rights.
No. Retirement accounts including 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and Rollover IRAs cannot be retitled into a trust during the owner's lifetime because doing so would trigger an immediate taxable distribution. Instead, name your revocable trust as the primary or contingent beneficiary on each retirement account. Note that trust beneficiaries on retirement accounts have different required minimum distribution rules under the SECURE Act, so consult a tax advisor before naming a trust as beneficiary.
Sources
Data sourced from Empower primary sources (20 pages reviewed). How we research.
Beneficiary Support Services
Empower, P.O. Box 173764, Denver, CO 80217-3764. Express mail: Empower, 8515 E. Orchard Rd., Greenwood Village, CO 80111.
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Empower accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
