How to designate beneficiaries at Milliman

The employer's plan document, not the recordkeeper, sets the rules; Milliman, and now Empower, administers what the plan says. Each plan carries its own designation, so updating the 401(k) does not update a paired pension or cash balance plan.¹

A 401(k), 403(b), pension or other employer plan cannot be retitled into a trust during the participant's lifetime; a trust can only be named as its beneficiary.¹

Defined benefit and cash balance plans carry survivor-annuity rules on top of the designation: the payment form the retiree elected can mean that nothing survives them at all.¹

A trust can be named as beneficiary on any of these plans.¹

Whether a trust is taken on the portal or only on paper, and with or without a Certification of Trust, is set by the employer's plan document.¹

Primary and contingent beneficiaries are named with a percentage allocation for each, totaling 100%.¹

On an ERISA-covered plan, a married participant naming anyone other than the spouse as primary beneficiary needs the spouse's written consent, which the plan may require witnessed by a notary or a plan representative.¹

The designation will not take effect until the signed consent is received; a designation is only effective once it has been accepted by the plan. Naming a trust rather than the spouse still requires the consent.¹

For employer retirement plans. Completed by the participant, returned to the address the service centre gives for the plan. Sent by the institution on request.¹

A beneficiary designation on a retirement plan overrides a will: the plan pays the named beneficiary regardless of what the will says.¹

Milliman plans that have migrated since Empower acquired the administration business on 1 September 2026¹