Estate planning options at Nova 401(k)

A plan administered by Nova is not retitled to a revocable living trust. A trust connects to the plan as a named beneficiary.¹

A trust can be named as beneficiary. If the named beneficiary is a trust, the plan may make a direct rollover to an IRA on behalf of the trust, provided the trust satisfies the requirements to be a designated beneficiary.¹

At the participant's death, the plan administrator may require evidence of the trust's right to receive payment.¹

A spouse's consent must be in writing and irrevocable, acknowledge the effect of the election and the specific non-spouse beneficiary (unless the spouse gave up that right), and be witnessed by a plan representative or a notary public.¹

Where the spouse consented to a non-spouse beneficiary, the spouse must consent again to any later change, unless the original consent gave up the right to limit consent to a specific beneficiary.¹

A participant may revoke or change a designation at any time by filing written notice, or another form permitted by the IRS, with the plan administrator.¹

With no valid designation, or no surviving beneficiary and no contingent beneficiary, the benefit is paid to the surviving spouse, then the participant's issue per stirpes, then the surviving parents in equal shares, then the participant's estate, unless the employer set a different order in its adoption agreement.¹

A divorce decree relating to a spouse named as beneficiary revokes that designation, unless the decree or a qualified domestic relations order provides otherwise, a later designation is made, or the employer elected otherwise in its adoption agreement.¹

If the participant and the beneficiary die simultaneously, the plan administrator presumes the beneficiary died first, unless the designation says otherwise.¹