The Empower beneficiary designation form tells Empower who should receive your 401(k) or 403(b) balance when you die, and a completed form on file lets that money pass directly to the people you name instead of running through probate. You can fill it out online through Empower’s participant portal or on paper through your employer’s HR department. Either way, the form asks for the same core information: who inherits, in what shares, and in what order.
Where to Get the Form
The fastest route is logging into your account on Empower’s participant website. Many plans let you add or change beneficiaries entirely online. Open the “Beneficiaries” tab in your account profile and the portal walks you through each beneficiary’s information and share. If your plan requires paper, the portal usually offers a downloadable PDF.
If you don’t have online access or prefer paper, ask your employer’s HR or benefits department. Each employer’s plan may use a slightly different version, so use the one tied to your specific plan rather than a generic template. You can also request a blank form by calling Empower’s participant services line.
Participant Information
The top of the form identifies you and your account. Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears in Empower’s system, your Social Security number (all nine digits), and your plan name or number.1Empower Retirement. Seafarers International Union AGLIW 401(k) Plan Beneficiary Designation Form A mismatch between the form and your account profile will delay processing, so check the profile first if you’ve recently changed your name.
Primary and Contingent Beneficiaries
The form divides beneficiaries into two tiers. Primary beneficiaries are first in line. Contingent beneficiaries inherit only if every primary beneficiary has already died. Each tier needs its own complete set of information, and the percentage allocations in each tier must total exactly 100 percent, even if you’re naming only one person.2Empower. NC 401(K) Plan – Beneficiary Designation
For each person or entity you name, the form asks for:
- Full legal name. For individuals, first, middle initial, and last. For a trust or charity, the entity’s full legal name.
- Social Security number for individuals, or EIN for a trust.
- Date of birth, or for a trust, the date it was established.
- Relationship to you (spouse, child, parent, grandchild, sibling, or other). Empower rejects forms that leave this blank.1Empower Retirement. Seafarers International Union AGLIW 401(k) Plan Beneficiary Designation Form
- Percentage share. Use whole numbers, and make sure each tier adds to 100.
If a Beneficiary Dies Before You Do
Many Empower plan forms let you choose how a deceased beneficiary’s share is handled: per stirpes or per capita. A per stirpes designation passes that share down to the beneficiary’s own children. If you name your brother for 50 percent and he dies before you, his kids split his 50 percent. A per capita designation redistributes his share among the surviving primary beneficiaries, and his children get nothing.3Fidelity Investments. What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Die? If you make no choice and all primary beneficiaries have died, the contingent beneficiaries inherit. If none of them are listed or alive either, the account falls into your estate and goes through probate.
Spousal Consent
If you’re married and your account is covered by ERISA, which includes most employer-sponsored 401(k) and 403(b) plans, federal law gives your spouse a right to your account balance. To name anyone other than your spouse as primary beneficiary, your spouse must sign a written waiver on the form itself. The waiver has to acknowledge what your spouse is giving up and be witnessed by either a plan representative or a notary public.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1055 – Requirement of Joint and Survivor Annuity and Preretirement Survivor Annuity Some plans permit remote witnessing through live audio-video technology, as long as the session is recorded and the signed documents are transmitted electronically the same day.
If your spouse can’t be located, or you can establish to the plan representative’s satisfaction that consent can’t be obtained, the plan may process the form without it. Submitting the form without spousal consent when it’s required is the single most common reason Empower rejects a beneficiary designation, so handle this step before you send anything in.
Naming Minor Children or a Trust
You can name a minor child, but a child under 18 cannot legally take control of retirement assets. The plan will require a court-appointed guardian or custodian to manage the money until the child reaches the age of majority. To avoid that court process, many parents set up a custodial arrangement under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act and name a custodian on the form.
Naming a trust gives you more control over how and when the money is distributed. You can direct, for example, that a child receive funds in installments rather than a lump sum at 18. To designate a trust, enter its full legal name, the date it was established, and its tax identification number. Your plan administrator may also want a copy of the trust document on file. Trusts can create tax complications: if the plan doesn’t allow life-expectancy payouts to a trust beneficiary, the entire balance and its deferred taxes may come due sooner than expected.
Submitting the Form
If your plan allows online changes, you can finish everything in the portal and skip paper entirely. For plans that require a physical form, you have three options:
- Upload a scanned or photographed copy of the signed form through the participant portal’s “Upload Documents” feature. This creates an immediate digital record.
- Mail the form to Empower at PO Box 56025, Boston, MA 02205-6025. For express or overnight delivery, use 8515 E. Orchard Road, Greenwood Village, CO 80111. Empower does not accept hand-delivered forms at the express mail address.5Empower. Beneficiary Designation Form
- Fax, if your form lists a fax number. Not every plan version does.
After submitting, log in and check the “Beneficiaries” tab to confirm the update has been applied. If anything was wrong, a blank relationship field, percentages that don’t total 100, missing spousal consent, Empower sends the form back rather than applying a partial update. Keep a copy of the signed form in your personal records no matter how you submitted it.
When to Update the Form
A divorce decree does not automatically remove your ex-spouse from your Empower beneficiary designation. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff that ERISA preempts state laws that would automatically revoke a former spouse’s beneficiary status after divorce.6Cornell Law – Legal Information Institute. Egelhoff v Egelhoff If your ex is still listed when you die, Empower is legally required to pay them, regardless of what your divorce agreement says.
The fix is simple but easy to forget: file a new form after any major life event. Divorce, remarriage, the birth of a child, or the death of a beneficiary all warrant an update. If your divorce settlement entitles your ex-spouse to a portion of your retirement account, that’s typically handled through a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, a separate legal document that directs the plan administrator to split the account. The QDRO does not change your beneficiary designation for the remaining balance.
Review your designations at least once a year even if nothing dramatic has happened. An outdated form is one of the most common and most preventable estate planning mistakes, and updating it takes far less time than the legal mess it prevents.