Changing Beneficiaries on a 401(k), IRA, or Pension

Your 401(k), IRA, or pension does not pass through your will. Whoever is named on the beneficiary designation form on file with the plan or custodian inherits the account — full stop. This guide covers how to change that designation on a 401(k), IRA, or pension, when spousal consent under ERISA §417 is required, why custodians like Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab each have their own forms, and how to get the notarization done remotely.

Why beneficiary designations override your will

Retirement accounts are non-probate assets. The plan administrator or custodian pays out according to the contract — the beneficiary designation — and is legally required to ignore conflicting instructions in a will or trust. This rule comes from federal preemption under ERISA for employer plans and from the account agreement itself for IRAs.

Practical consequences:

• An ex-spouse still listed on your 401(k) will inherit it, even if the divorce decree says otherwise.
• A new spouse you married after updating your estate plan will not inherit unless you update the designation.
• An adult child who has since passed away will cause the account to flow to your estate — and into probate — if no contingent is named.

Updating the designation is the single most leveraged paperwork task in estate planning. It takes fifteen minutes and can redirect hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When spousal consent is required

ERISA plans (401(k), 403(b), most pensions)

If you are married and you name anyone other than your spouse as the primary beneficiary of 100% of the account, ERISA §417 requires your spouse to sign a written consent. The spouse's signature must be witnessed by either a plan representative or a notary public — in practice, almost always a notary.

Triggers that require notarized spousal consent:

• Naming a child, parent, sibling, or trust as primary beneficiary.
• Splitting the primary designation (e.g., 50% spouse / 50% child).
• Naming a charity as primary.
• Updating a pre-marriage designation that still lists a parent or prior partner.

If the spouse is the sole 100% primary beneficiary, no consent is needed and most plans do not require notarization of the form itself.

IRAs

IRAs sit outside ERISA, so federal spousal consent does not apply. But:

• Community-property states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin) treat contributions made during marriage as joint property. Custodians in these states typically require a notarized spousal consent when a non-spouse is named.
• Custodian policy varies. Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab each publish their own beneficiary form and each has different signature-witness requirements.

Pensions and defined-benefit plans

Changing the survivor beneficiary on a traditional pension almost always requires a notarized spousal consent because doing so waives the Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity (QJSA) default. This is the same consent required to elect a lump sum — see our spousal consent guide for the full QJSA mechanics.

Custodian-specific forms

Each plan and custodian has its own form. Using the wrong one is the fastest way to get a change rejected.

Fidelity

• Beneficiary Designation Form for workplace plans (401(k), 403(b)) — requires spousal consent section completed and notarized if naming a non-spouse.
• Fidelity IRA Beneficiary Designation — paper form for non-standard designations (trusts, per-stirpes language); notarization required in community-property states.
• Most routine spouse-only updates can be made online without paperwork.

Vanguard

• Beneficiary Designation Form — available for both workplace plans and IRAs.
• For employer plans, the Spousal Consent to Beneficiary Designation is a separate page that must be signed by the spouse and notarized.
• Vanguard accepts uploaded PDFs with a valid electronic notary seal.

Schwab

• Designated Beneficiary Plan Form for IRAs.
• Schwab QRP Beneficiary Designation for solo 401(k) and qualified retirement plans.
• Schwab has historically required a wet-ink signature for some trust beneficiary designations — confirm with Schwab before scheduling the RON session.

Empower, Principal, T. Rowe Price, TIAA

Smaller recordkeepers typically use plan-specific forms pulled from the participant portal. The notarization requirements are driven by the plan document, not the recordkeeper. Download directly from your plan's portal and read the signature block before filling it in.

Contingent beneficiaries and why they matter

A primary beneficiary inherits first. A contingent beneficiary inherits only if every primary has predeceased you or disclaimed. If you skip the contingent and your primary dies before you:

• The account passes to your estate by default.
• Estate-inherited retirement accounts lose the stretch/10-year options under the SECURE Act and must be distributed on an accelerated timeline.
• The account enters probate, where it is exposed to creditors and public record.

Always name at least one contingent — typically your children per stirpes, a trust, or a named alternative. Updating contingents does not usually require spousal consent, but it does still require the signed (and often notarized) form.

QDRO overlap after divorce

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is a court order that carves out a portion of a retirement plan for an ex-spouse. A QDRO does not automatically update the beneficiary designation — it only directs how funds are divided.

After a divorce with a QDRO:

1. Confirm the QDRO has been accepted by the plan administrator.
2. File a new beneficiary designation consistent with the QDRO (usually naming your children or a new spouse).
3. If you remarry, your new spouse becomes the automatic ERISA beneficiary — naming anyone else again requires a fresh notarized spousal consent from the new spouse.

Step-by-step: getting this notarized online

1. Download the correct form from your plan

Log into your recordkeeper portal (Fidelity NetBenefits, Vanguard, Schwab, Empower, your pension plan's participant site) and download the current beneficiary designation form. Generic templates from the internet will be rejected — the plan requires its own paperwork.

2. Fill in everything except signatures

Complete the participant information, the primary and contingent beneficiary details (full legal names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, percentages that sum to 100%), and any trust language. Leave the signature and date fields blank — pre-signed forms are rejected by many plans and void the notary's ability to witness the signing.

3. Book a RON session

Schedule a Remote Online Notarization session at a time when every required signer can be on camera. If spousal consent is required, the spouse is a signer and must appear with an unexpired government-issued photo ID. The participant is typically a signer too.

4. Complete the session

The notary will verify each signer's identity via credential analysis and knowledge-based authentication, confirm each signer understands what they are signing, witness the signatures applied to the PDF, and affix a tamper-evident electronic seal. The entire session is recorded and retained per state law.

5. Submit the sealed PDF

Upload the notarized PDF directly through the plan's secure portal or follow the custodian's stated submission method. Do not print and rescan — doing so strips the cryptographic seal that validates the notarization, and the plan will reject it.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using an old version of the form. Plans revise beneficiary forms periodically. Always pull the current PDF from the portal the day you sign.
• Percentages that do not total 100%. Primary beneficiary shares must sum to exactly 100%. Same for contingents. Off-by-one percentage errors trigger rejection.
• Listing a minor child directly as primary. Minors cannot legally receive retirement account distributions. Name a custodian under UTMA or a trust for the benefit of the minor instead.
• Forgetting the spousal consent section. On employer plans, the consent is often on page 2 of the form and easy to miss. If the participant is married and the spouse is not 100% primary, the consent block must be completed and notarized.
• Name mismatches. The spouse's name on the consent form must match the spouse's government-issued ID exactly. Middle initials, maiden names, and hyphenation all matter.
• Not updating after life events. Marriage, divorce, birth of a child, death of a beneficiary, remarriage — each of these should trigger a review of every retirement account designation you hold.
• Assuming a trust designation is automatic. Naming a trust as beneficiary requires specific "see-through trust" language to preserve favorable payout rules. Work with an estate attorney before designating a trust.

Bottom line

Your beneficiary designation — not your will — decides who inherits your 401(k), IRA, or pension. Pull the current form from your plan, fill every field, and if you are married and naming anyone other than your spouse on an ERISA plan, get the spousal consent witnessed by a notary. U.S. Online Notaries handles beneficiary designation forms every day; book a RON session and we will have the sealed PDF back in your inbox in under fifteen minutes.