Estate planning at Pentegra
How to protect 9 Pentegra accounts — manage beneficiaries by phone, and file death claims
Participant Services
Pentegra Services, Inc., 2261 Market Street, Suite 86302, San Francisco, CA 94114 (corporate headquarters: 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 408, Shelton, CT 06484)
Participant Services
Pentegra Services, Inc., 2261 Market Street, Suite 86302, San Francisco, CA 94114 (corporate headquarters: 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 408, Shelton, CT 06484)
Participant Services (death distributions run through the employer plan administrator)
Pentegra Trust Company, c/o ASPire, ATTN: Distributions, 4010 Boy Scout Blvd, Suite 450, Tampa, FL 33607 (403(b) death distributions). Beneficiary changes and 403(b) Services: Pentegra Trust Company, c/o Pentegra Retirement Services, ATTN: 403(b) Services, 701 Westchester Avenue, Suite 320E, White Plains, NY 10604.
Retirement retirement accounts at Pentegra transfer by beneficiary designation, not through probate. With 9 account types, each carrying different tax implications for heirs, getting these designations right is one of the most consequential estate planning decisions.
Account holders can update their beneficiary designations at Pentegra by mail and by phone.
There are two sides to estate planning at Pentegra: setting things up while you're alive, and the process survivors follow after a death.
Preparing your estate
Beneficiaries and trust funding
How to update beneficiaries by phone, and review 9 account types at Pentegra.
View details →When someone dies
Death claim process
6-step process, 6 required documents, and contact information for survivors.
View details →Frequently asked questions
Because on an employer plan the beneficiary form is the transfer document. Pentegra's own participant guidance ("Beneficiary 101 for Participants") states that when no beneficiary is designated, the 401(k) most likely points the money to the estate and the assets become subject to probate — a wait that "can be as quick as 3-6 weeks but can last years in a contested situation." It also makes the divorce point plainly: a stale designation naming an ex-spouse or the children of a first marriage is honored as written, because the plan pays the names on the form, not the instructions in a will. Naming both a primary and a contingent beneficiary, and refreshing after every life event, is the entire estate plan for this asset.
Sources
Data sourced from Pentegra primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
Participant Services
Pentegra Services, Inc., 2261 Market Street, Suite 86302, San Francisco, CA 94114 (corporate headquarters: 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 408, Shelton, CT 06484)
Participant Services
Pentegra Services, Inc., 2261 Market Street, Suite 86302, San Francisco, CA 94114 (corporate headquarters: 2 Enterprise Drive, Suite 408, Shelton, CT 06484)
Participant Services (death distributions run through the employer plan administrator)
Pentegra Trust Company, c/o ASPire, ATTN: Distributions, 4010 Boy Scout Blvd, Suite 450, Tampa, FL 33607 (403(b) death distributions). Beneficiary changes and 403(b) Services: Pentegra Trust Company, c/o Pentegra Retirement Services, ATTN: 403(b) Services, 701 Westchester Avenue, Suite 320E, White Plains, NY 10604.
Estate planning articles
Learn how to protect your Pentegra accounts and other assets with trusts, beneficiary designations, and estate planning documents.
