Compare Estate plans state to state

[jIM_Ohio]

I asked this question on facebook, and an attorney told me "it depends". So curious what kind of answers I get here.

Question:

If my 401k and IRA benficiaries are my kids at 50% each, and the contingent is my 75 year old father, what happens to the 401k and IRA assets if one of my kids dies before I change the beneficiary?

Does my other kid inherit 100%
Does my dad inherit the 50% which was allocated to my deceased child?
Or what other considerations are in play?

And I know setting up a trust solves the problem. Curious if anyone has seen this happen, and what state are you in where that was the flow of assets?

[disneysteve]

I just checked Vanguard's site and the beneficiary distribution can either be per stirpes or not. It depends on what you designate when you assign your beneficiaries. So I'd say you need to check with your plans and see how they are each set up.

[kork13]

My understanding is that contingent beneficiaries are only effective if ALL primary beneficiaries have died. Thus, one child would receive 100%.

However, that could be biased by the laws of my residency state (Oregon). Very likely, your lawyer friend was right -- "It Depends"

[Like2Plan]

I asked this question on facebook, and an attorney told me "it depends". So curious what kind of answers I get here.

Question:

If my 401k and IRA benficiaries are my kids at 50% each, and the contingent is my 75 year old father, what happens to the 401k and IRA assets if one of my kids dies before I change the beneficiary?

Does my other kid inherit 100%
Does my dad inherit the 50% which was allocated to my deceased child?
Or what other considerations are in play?

Interesting question.
I recently filled out a beneficiary form and I noticed that the form had an entry for contingent beneficiaries asking-- Contingent to which primary beneficiary?
(I only have 1 primary and 1 contingent, so for me it didn't matter).

And I know setting up a trust solves the problem. Curious if anyone has seen this happen, and what state are you in where that was the flow of assets?

If you had a situation as you described above, what would happen with the trust with the ages of the beneficiaries being so different?

[skip17py]

It depends.....I am also in the legal field