Ashlea Ebeling

speaker

2,002 appearances 38 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2022 last heard Feb 2025

Ashlea Ebeling’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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WSJ Your Money Briefing · How a Forgotten Form Led to His Ex Getting His $1 Million Retirement Account · 11 Jun 2024 podcast

Well, retirement accounts for sure, life insurance as well. voice-verified

And that's whether it's a life insurance that you set up through your workplace or separately on your own. voice-verified

Also, bank and brokerage accounts, it's getting to be more and more common that people are listing beneficiaries. voice-verified

Workplace retirement plans have special protections for surviving spouses. voice-verified

If you're married and you've named someone else, that surviving spouse can come in and they would be the rightful owner of the account. voice-verified

There's no requirement. voice-verified

And that's also part of the problem. voice-verified

So some people don't take this seriously or they just named someone when they opened up an account years in the past. voice-verified

And then that's not their intent years later. voice-verified

You brought up another problem. voice-verified

So people often name a beneficiary but not tell them. voice-verified

And then it can be years later and the employer plan has to do the due diligence and try to figure out who they need to pay out this money to when the account holder dies and they might have trouble finding the beneficiary. voice-verified

It's important to talk to your beneficiary, even give them a copy of the beneficiary form. voice-verified

I talked to a lawyer for this story and there were two beneficiaries named and they found the one right off, but the other one, it's eight years later and they haven't found the other person. voice-verified

So they're now fighting over who should get that other 50% of the money. voice-verified

So best practices when you name a beneficiary, you should include at a minimum the name and address and a cell phone. voice-verified

And most plans actually ask for a social security number as well, because that makes it easier for the plan to eventually track down that person. voice-verified

The form is the form. voice-verified

So if it's not a retirement account with a surviving spouse exception, that person, even if they're not part of their life, ex-spouses have won in these cases when there's no new spouse. voice-verified

It can lead to windfalls for some and disappointment for others, basically. voice-verified

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