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A beneficiary is a person that a Reliant employee designates to receive the funds in their 401(k) retirement savings account, should the employee pass away.  Employees have the option to elect a primary and secondary beneficiary.  The role of a beneficiary may be distributed to more than one person if desired.  If a Reliant employee is over the age of 35 and married, the beneficiary will automatically default to his/her spouse (even if the employee had a previous beneficiary on file with Principal).  It is possible for a spouse to waive their right as beneficiary if another beneficiary is desired, but the spouse must provide their written consent to Principal.  It is important to designate a beneficiary/beneficiaries and to keep them up to date, to save loved ones from the hassle of having to get a court order to obtain these funds. To update or change your beneficiary see Changes to Beneficiaries.

 

Designating a Minor as Beneficiary

 If a Reliant employee designates a minor to be their beneficiary, there may be legal complications for the minor to have access to the 401(k) funds prior to the time they reach the age of 18.  Therefore, in the case of minors, Reliant employees may prefer to set-up a trust in the name of the child and designate the trust as their 401(k) beneficiary. Please seek counsel from a legal advisor to make these arrangements. 

What happens in the case of death?

In the unfortunate case that a Reliant employee or former employee that participated in Reliant's 401(k) Plan (and didn't move their money to a new plan after they exited employment) passes away, Reliant will serve as a point of contact between Principal Financial Group and the deceased's family.  Reliant will be responsible to submit the proper Death Notification Form to Principal for the 401K(k) payout to the designated beneficiaries.  To complete this responsibility, Reliant will request a certified copy of the death certificate from the deceased's family. 

 

  For more information see this handout from Principal:

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1 Comment

  1. Barb Seckler

    Sarah Swann Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org) - This page has a death notification form but it's really something Reliant fills out, not the employee.  So, I'm leaning towards not tagging this page as a forms page.  I thought it might be helpful if someone knew they had cancer etc. and wanted to know what steps would happen if they died to know the process for their beneficiaries to obtain the 401(K) funds but we don't really need employees to see this form otherwise, and again, Reliant fills it out, not the employee.  Thoughts?

     

    And, just FYI - I think this page completes this Retirement section.  I have read and edited every page in need of updates.