Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

My husband and I have fairly standard wills, each becoming executor of the others estate upon the deal of the other. However, We each have investments which are 401K rollovers, and I would like to make my son the beneficiary on a couple of them. If my husband consents, which he has agreed to, and we process the appropriate paperwork with the Banks where the funds are invested, then if I have a "standard" will which indicates that my estate would be inherited by my spouse, will the benficiary listed on those two accounts still be effective, and my son inherit those without issue, or do I need to make other arrangements for that to happen? Just to be clear, my intent is for my son (be a previous marriage) to be insured that her inherits the balance in these two accounts, if there is one, at the time of my death . .


Asked on 10/04/11, 9:00 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alexandra Golden Golden Law Center

The disposition of retirement accounts is not governed by the terms of the Will unless you name your estate as the beneficiary of an account. Just make sure you also name one or more human beings as successor beneficiary to your son on your retirement account to avoid unpleasant tax consequences for your estate.

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Answered on 10/04/11, 9:06 am


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