The big boss of a major client recently divorced, and as part of the divorce he agreed to name his children as the beneficiary of his death benefits under a qualified plan and 457 arrangement, and for most of his death benefits under various life insurance arrangements provided by the client.

The former spouse wants assurance that the beneficiary designations have been made, that they will remain in place, and that they will be honored by the plans; and the boss wants assurance that there will be no further claims against his benefits (other than those rights granted under the agreement). They want to do all this without going back to the judge.

One of the qualified plans is a defined benefit plan that provides that the death benefit will go to the spouse unless the spouse has approved another beneficiary. I know that can't be changed except with a domestic relations order. So my question really relates to beneficiary designations that the plans say are entirely within the discretion of the employee - can the employee direct the plans not to recognize any changes except with the spouse's consent.

Do you have any suggestions of what might work to meet these goals. I would think this was a fairly common scenario - how do companies handle it?

Happy new year, and thanks for your help.

Careful. In many DB plans, the pre-retirement death benefit for an unmarried participant may be zero.

This is not the sort of advice that a plan record keeper should be providing.