Spousal consent to complete rollovers?

[ua_guy]

I live in a community property state so I'm mystified by this requirement. In order to roll over funds saved through an ex-employer's retirement plan, I have to have my spouse attest that he is my spouse in front of a notary public by signing a few different forms. We bring a copy of our marriage license just in case.

This seems onerous. Has anyone else run into this requirement? We're just trying to tune our retirement savings as one of our 2022 goals.

[disneysteve]

This is a standard requirement as far as I know.

i believe it has to do with beneficiary designation.

[Like2Plan]

The TSP has this requirement for FERs participants because it is considered part of the retirement that could be annuitized. (The spouse has to sign off on the pension, too, if it provides for anything less than the maximum survivor benefit.)


https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans...pousal-consent

http://www.401khelpcenter.com/faq/faq_34.html#.YdXmE1lOmUk

https://retirementlc.com/401k-plans-distributions-and-spousal-consent/

[ua_guy]

Interesting. One of my plans requires it and another doesn't, both are with the same financial institution. Sounds more common than I thought, but it's weird that there isn't consistency within the same bank. Maybe it's plan-specific.