Estate planning at Newport
How to protect 9 Newport accounts — manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust by mail, and file death claims
Brand change
Ascensus and Newport closed their merger on April 8, 2022. Ascensus is the brand of the unified company; Newport continues as its executive-benefits and institutional-insurance business. newportgroup.com now redirects to ascensus.com. Beneficiaries of former Newport 401(k), 403(b), and pension plans go to Ascensus (secure.ascensus.com, 888-652-8086); beneficiaries of Newport NQDC / executive benefit plans use the Newport-branded portal (secure.newportgroup.com, 800-230-3950). Effective April 2022.
Newport is now part of Ascensus. The procedures below reflect Newport's accounts during the transition. View the Ascensus estate planning page.
Newport / Ascensus Participant Services
Newport / Ascensus Participant Services
Death claims run through the EMPLOYER / plan sponsor. Newport has no standalone claims department since the April 2022 Ascensus merger. Call participant services below, but expect the plan sponsor to initiate the claim and the plan document to control the payout.
Newport manages 9 retirement retirement accounts where beneficiary designations—not a will—control who inherits the balance. Because these are tax-advantaged accounts, the designation also determines the tax treatment for whoever receives them.
Managing beneficiaries at Newport is straightforward—changes can be made online, by mail, and by phone, typically taking 10-20 minutes, plus a notary appointment if spousal consent is required. Trust funding is also available, allowing families to name a trust as the beneficiary of retirement accounts.
Newport provides specific procedures for both proactive estate planning and filing claims after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to manage beneficiaries online, fund a trust by mail, and review 9 account types at Newport.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
6-step process, 8 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Frequently asked questions
Probably not, and this is the structural difference between a nonqualified plan and a 401(k). A 401(k)'s assets sit in a plan trust that is legally separate from the employer and shielded from the employer's creditors. An NQDC balance is not an account the employee owns — it is an unsecured promise from the employer to pay later. Even when a plan is informally funded through a rabbi trust, those assets remain reachable by the employer's general creditors in insolvency; that exposure is what preserves the tax deferral in the first place. A beneficiary of an NQDC plan whose sponsor is in bankruptcy is, in substance, a general unsecured creditor of the company. If you are settling an estate that includes a Newport-administered NQDC benefit and the employer is in distress, get the plan document and the trust arrangement from the employer, contact 800-230-3950, and talk to a licensed attorney before treating the balance as a collectible estate asset.
Sources
Data sourced from Newport primary sources (12 pages reviewed). How we research.
Newport / Ascensus Participant Services
Newport / Ascensus Participant Services
Death claims run through the EMPLOYER / plan sponsor. Newport has no standalone claims department since the April 2022 Ascensus merger. Call participant services below, but expect the plan sponsor to initiate the claim and the plan document to control the payout.
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Newport accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
