Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts And The Hidden Law Of Succession, Stewart E. Sterk, Melanie B. Leslie
Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts And The Hidden Law Of Succession, Stewart E. Sterk, Melanie B. Leslie
Articles
Americans currently hold more than $9 trillion in retirement savings accounts. Those accounts, together with the family home, are the principal source of wealth for most working and retired Americans. But when a retirement accountholder dies prior to exhausting retirement savings, what governs the distribution of the account? Most often, not the accountholder’s will or trust, but a one-page fill-in- the-blanks beneficiary designation form that the accountholder filled out, typically without advice of counsel, when she or he opened the account.
When accountholders fill out beneficiary designation forms, they are focused on starting a new job or beginning to save …