A will has no authority over a 401(k) or IRA. The beneficiary form on file with the custodian controls who inherits the account — full stop — regardless of what an estate planning attorney drafted years later. That single fact is behind most of the expensive mistakes families discover only after someone has died.
The Beneficiary Form Beats the Will, Every Time
If your will leaves everything to your current spouse but your 401(k) beneficiary form still names an ex-spouse from a decade ago, the ex-spouse gets the account. Beneficiary designations are a contract between you and the plan administrator, and they are legally required to pay whoever is named on that form — not whoever a will says should inherit.
The ERISA Spousal Consent Rule Most People Don’t Know Exists
For 401(k)s and other employer plans covered by ERISA, federal law requires your spouse’s written, notarized or plan-witnessed consent before you can name anyone else as primary beneficiary. Quietly naming your children instead of your spouse without that signed consent form doesn’t work — the plan is legally obligated to pay your spouse regardless of what the form says. IRAs aren’t covered by this ERISA rule, which is a real, meaningful difference between the two account types that surprises people who assume the rules are identical.
Per Stirpes vs. Per Capita: A Choice Most Forms Don’t Ask You to Make Clearly
If a named beneficiary dies before you do, “per stirpes” (“by branch”) sends that beneficiary’s share down to their own children. “Per capita” instead redistributes it equally among your other surviving named beneficiaries. Many employer plan beneficiary forms don’t even offer a per stirpes checkbox, which can unintentionally cut a deceased child’s own kids out of an inheritance the account owner assumed would flow to them.
The Missing Contingent Beneficiary Problem
Naming a primary beneficiary but leaving the contingent (backup) beneficiary field blank means that if the primary beneficiary predeceases you and no contingent is named, the account typically defaults to your estate — which forces it through probate and can accelerate tax consequences that a properly named individual beneficiary would have avoided.
The Life-Event Trigger List
Beneficiary forms should be reviewed after marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or grandchild, or the death of a named beneficiary — not just once at account opening. A form filled out at a first job in your twenties is still the legally controlling document decades later if it was never updated, even after remarriage.
The Bottom Line
Pull your actual beneficiary designations from every 401(k), IRA, and annuity you own at least once every few years, and specifically after any major life event. It takes ten minutes per account and it’s the only way to confirm the form matches your actual current intent, since no one else is checking this for you.
For the tax side of what happens after an account passes to a beneficiary, see our guide to the Inherited IRA 10-Year Rule.
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