A Raymond James beneficiary change form tells the firm who should receive your account assets when you die, and because it is a contract with the custodian, it overrides whatever your will says about those same assets. To change your designation, you fill in your account information, name primary and (optionally) secondary beneficiaries with their identifying details and percentage shares, obtain any required spousal consent, sign and date the form, and return it to Raymond James. The specific form varies by account type, so confirm with your advisor that you are using the right version before you start.
What To Gather Before You Start
For every person you plan to name, you need four pieces of information:
- Full legal name. The form requires each beneficiary to be individually named. Generic phrases like “my children” or “my spouse” will not work because the custodian cannot identify beneficiaries from descriptions.
- Date of birth, for each primary and secondary beneficiary.
- Social Security number, which the firm uses to verify identity and report taxable distributions to the IRS.
- Relationship to you, specifically whether each beneficiary is a spouse or non-spouse.
The Carillon Family of Funds version of the form limits beneficiary fields to name, date of birth, percentage, Social Security number, and spousal status.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form Other Raymond James forms may request a mailing address, so keep one on hand for each beneficiary just in case.
One restriction to note upfront: if you hold a joint account, a joint owner listed in the account information section cannot also be named as a beneficiary.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form
Completing the Form
Account Information
At the top, enter your name as it appears on the account, your account number, and a daytime phone number. Verify the account number against a recent statement. If you hold multiple Raymond James accounts and want different beneficiaries on each one, submit a separate form for every account.
Primary and Secondary Beneficiaries
The form has two tiers. Primary beneficiaries are first in line. Secondary beneficiaries, sometimes called contingent beneficiaries, receive the assets only if every primary beneficiary has already died or formally disclaimed their share.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form Naming the secondary tier is optional, but if you skip it and your primary beneficiaries are gone, the account falls into your estate and goes through probate.
Each tier has space for up to three beneficiaries. Assign a percentage next to each name, and make the percentages within each tier add up to one hundred. If you leave the percentage field blank, the firm defaults to equal shares among the named beneficiaries in that tier.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form Writing in the actual numbers removes any ambiguity.
Per Stirpes and Per Capita
Some beneficiary forms let you add a per stirpes instruction (a deceased beneficiary’s share passes to their children) or a per capita instruction (surviving beneficiaries split everything equally). The Carillon Family of Funds form explicitly prohibits both designations.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form If distributing along family lines matters to you, the workarounds are naming your secondary tier carefully or using a trust as beneficiary. Ask your advisor whether your specific form carries the same restriction before you assume it does.
Naming a Trust, Charity, or Minor
If you want the assets to flow into a trust, name the trust itself as the beneficiary. You will typically need the trust’s full legal name exactly as it appears in the trust document, the date it was established, the trustee’s name, and the trust’s tax identification number. Routing inherited retirement assets through certain trusts may change how distributions can be stretched over a beneficiary’s lifetime, so talk this through with an estate-planning attorney before you commit.
A charity is named the same way as a person. Use the charity’s full legal name, street address, and federal Employer Identification Number so the firm can verify the entity and issue the distribution correctly.
A minor cannot legally take control of inherited assets. If you name a child under 18 with no further instructions, the firm or a court may need to appoint a guardian or custodian before the funds are released, which can delay payout for months. The cleaner approach is to name a custodian under your state’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act directly on the form, for example, “Jane Smith, as custodian for John Smith under the [State] UTMA.” The custodian manages the assets until the child reaches the age your state law specifies. A trust for the minor’s benefit is the alternative and gives you more flexibility over the age at which the child gains full access.
Spousal Consent
If you are married and hold an IRA in a community property state, naming anyone other than (or in addition to) your spouse as a primary beneficiary triggers a consent requirement. The nine community property states are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 555 (12/2024), Community Property In those states, your spouse is treated as owning half the assets earned during the marriage regardless of whose name is on the account. The Carillon form includes a spousal consent section specifically for IRA accounts, where your spouse signs to acknowledge and agree to the designation.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form
For employer-sponsored retirement plans like 401(k)s, the rules are stricter and apply nationwide. Under federal law, your spouse is automatically the beneficiary of your qualified retirement plan regardless of which state you live in. To name someone else, your spouse must consent in writing, and that consent must be witnessed by a plan representative or a notary public.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 29 Section 1055 Without that witnessed signature, the designation is invalid and the plan will pay the surviving spouse. This ERISA requirement cannot be overridden by a prenuptial agreement or state law.
The Carillon form itself does not include a notary acknowledgment section. Whether your specific Raymond James account requires notarization depends on the account type, so your advisor is the right person to confirm what level of spousal verification applies.
Signing and Submitting the Form
After every field is complete and any required spousal consent is obtained, sign and date the form. If you have a joint account, the joint owner must also sign and date. The form is not valid until the custodian receives it; a signed form sitting in your desk drawer does nothing.1Raymond James Investment Management. Carillon Family of Funds Beneficiary Designation Form
For Carillon Family of Funds accounts, the form provides two mailing addresses:
- Regular mail: Carillon Family of Funds, c/o U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, PO Box 219252, Kansas City, MO 64121-9252.
- Overnight delivery: Carillon Family of Funds, c/o U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, 801 Pennsylvania Ave, Suite 219252, Kansas City, MO 64105-1307.
For other Raymond James account types, submit the form to your financial advisor or the branch office that manages your account. Many advisors accept secure digital uploads through encrypted portals, which is faster and creates an automatic receipt trail. Before you send anything, make a copy for your records and verify the form is legible and complete. An illegible signature or a missing date is enough for the firm to reject the submission.
Once submitted, request confirmation that the designation has been processed, and check your next account statement or online portal to verify the updated beneficiary information appears. The Raymond James Beneficiary Update Checklist specifically recommends requesting confirmation of receipt and processing.4Raymond James. Beneficiary Update Checklist
When To File a New Form
A beneficiary designation is not a set-and-forget document. Any major life event should trigger a review: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or the death of a named beneficiary. The most common mistake is not the initial form; it is forgetting to update it after circumstances change.
After a Divorce
About half the states have revocation-upon-divorce statutes that automatically strip an ex-spouse’s beneficiary status on IRAs, bank accounts, and insurance policies once the divorce is final. Twenty-six states currently enforce automatic revocation. The paperwork on file with your financial institution does not update itself, though, so the firm may still pay out to your ex-spouse if nobody flags the change. Even in a state with automatic revocation, filing a new beneficiary form after divorce is the only way to be certain.
ERISA-governed plans like 401(k)s and pensions work differently. Under federal law, a pre-divorce beneficiary designation on a qualified retirement plan stays in effect until you change it, regardless of what your state’s revocation statute says. If you divorce and forget to update your 401(k) beneficiary, your ex-spouse inherits the account.
After a Beneficiary’s Death
If a primary beneficiary dies before you and you have named secondary beneficiaries, those secondary beneficiaries receive the assets. If you have not named secondary beneficiaries, the deceased beneficiary’s share falls into your estate. Either way, file an updated form promptly so your designations match your actual wishes.