The UBS beneficiary designation form tells UBS who receives your retirement account balance when you die, and a correctly completed form moves those assets directly to the people you name without passing through probate. To fill it out, download the current PDF from UBS, list your primary and contingent beneficiaries with the identifying details the form requests, assign share percentages that total 100% within each tier, obtain notarized spousal consent if you are married and naming anyone other than your spouse, sign the form, and return it to the address your plan administrator provides.
Where to Get the Form
UBS hosts a downloadable PDF of the Designation of Beneficiary form through its Online Services portal.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary You can also request a copy from your UBS financial advisor or pick one up at a local branch. If your account sits inside a UBS workplace retirement plan, call UBS Workplace Wealth Solutions at (800) 396-4385 for the plan-specific version, because employer plans sometimes use a form that differs from the general template.2UBS. UBS Client Support Center
What to Gather Before You Start
For every person you plan to name, have their full legal name as it appears on government identification, current residential address, date of birth, and Social Security number. The form requests the Social Security number to satisfy federal tax reporting.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary Nicknames and abbreviations invite rejection; use the name on the ID.
If you are naming a trust, have the trust’s full legal title and the date it was established. UBS IRA paperwork accepts trusts, estates, charities, and other institutions as beneficiaries, but the general beneficiary form may not include dedicated trust fields, so write the trust’s information clearly in the beneficiary name area.3UBS. IRA Application and Adoption Agreement
Filling In Primary and Contingent Beneficiaries
The form has two tiers. Primary beneficiaries stand first in line. Contingent beneficiaries receive the assets only if every primary beneficiary has already died. You can list one person or several in each tier.
Each tier includes a column for share percentages. Write in the split you want. If you name multiple beneficiaries in a tier and leave the percentage column blank, UBS treats each named person as owning an equal share.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary When you do assign percentages, confirm they total exactly 100% within each tier. To change a previously designated share, restate every beneficiary and every percentage on the new form; the form does not accept partial edits.
Per Stirpes Distribution
Some UBS forms, particularly IRA applications, include a per stirpes checkbox next to each beneficiary line. Selecting per stirpes means that if a named beneficiary dies before you, that person’s share drops down to their own descendants rather than being redistributed among the surviving beneficiaries. Name three children per stirpes, and if one predeceases you, that child’s portion goes to their kids instead of splitting between the two surviving siblings.
The alternative, sometimes called per capita, sends a deceased beneficiary’s share to the surviving named beneficiaries and cuts out the deceased person’s descendants. If the form in front of you has no per stirpes checkbox, ask your advisor how UBS handles a beneficiary who predeceases you so you can plan around the default.
Spousal Consent
If you are married and your qualified plan is covered by federal survivor annuity rules, naming anyone other than your spouse as primary beneficiary triggers a written spousal consent requirement. Under 26 U.S.C. ยง 417, your spouse must consent in writing to waive their survivor annuity right, and that consent must be witnessed by a plan representative or a notary public.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 417 – Definitions and Special Rules for Purposes of Minimum Survivor Annuity Requirements The UBS form includes dedicated signature lines for the waiver and a notary attestation block at the bottom.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary
Skipping the spousal consent section when it applies is the fastest way to get the form kicked back. If your spouse cannot be located, the statute allows you to demonstrate that to a plan representative, but you will need documentation, not a blank signature line.
The federal rule applies to qualified plans regardless of where you live. Separately, if you reside in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin), your spouse may have a legal claim to community property interests in other accounts. In those states, getting spousal sign-off even when the form does not explicitly require it heads off disputes later.
The form also asks for your current marital status. If you are unmarried, the form notes that a future marriage automatically makes your new spouse your primary beneficiary unless you file a new designation with spousal consent.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary
Naming a Minor
Financial institutions will not release retirement assets directly to a child under 18. Name a minor with no additional planning and the funds sit frozen until a court appoints a guardian to manage them, a process that carries ongoing court oversight and annual accountings. When the child turns 18, the balance transfers to them in a lump sum with no restrictions.
Two alternatives avoid that outcome: name a trust for the minor’s benefit as the beneficiary, or designate a custodian under your state’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. UTMA custodianships let an adult you name manage the money until the child reaches the age your state sets, which ranges from 18 to 21 in most states, with some allowing extensions to 25. Speak with your advisor or an estate attorney before filing, because once the form is on record, the designation controls.
Non-U.S. Citizen Beneficiaries
If any beneficiary is a nonresident alien, distributions will be subject to a default 30% U.S. withholding tax unless the beneficiary files IRS Form W-8BEN claiming a reduced treaty rate.5Internal Revenue Service. NRA Withholding The W-8BEN does not go with your beneficiary form, but telling the beneficiary about the requirement now spares them a surprise at distribution.
Submitting the Completed Form
Once you have filled out every applicable section, obtained spousal consent with notarization if required, and signed the form, you have a few submission options: upload the signed form through the UBS digital document portal, mail the original to UBS, or hand-deliver it to a local branch. The form itself directs you to return the completed document to the address provided by your plan administrator, which varies by employer plan.6UBS. Beneficiary Designation Form – Defined Contribution Plan If you are not sure where to send it, call UBS digital services support at (888) 279-3343.2UBS. UBS Client Support Center
Watch for a confirmation, either a mailed letter or an electronic notification. Log in to your UBS account and check the beneficiary section of your profile to verify the change appears. If no confirmation arrives within a couple of weeks, follow up. A form rejected for a missing signature or mismatched percentages is not a processed form, and the difference matters.
Updating Your Designations Later
Filing a new beneficiary designation form automatically revokes every prior version on file.1UBS. Designation of Beneficiary There is no partial edit. Every time you change anything, you fill out the entire form from scratch, restating everyone you want to keep along with any changes.
Review your designations after marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, or the death of a named beneficiary. The most common estate-planning error with these forms is filing one at account opening and never touching it again. A beneficiary designation is a contract with UBS, and it overrides whatever your will says. If your will leaves everything to your current spouse but the form on file still names an ex-spouse from a decade ago, the ex-spouse receives the retirement account.
One boundary worth knowing: a power of attorney generally does not authorize an agent to change your beneficiary designations. That authority stays with you personally. If you become incapacitated, your agent typically cannot update the form unless the POA document contains unusually specific language granting that power, and many financial institutions will refuse to honor even that.