Inventory every titled asset before you log in. One sheet, four columns: account, custodian/plan, last-four, current beneficiary (leave blank until step 2). Rows that belong: every 401(k) / 403(b) / 457, every IRA and Roth IRA, HSA, every life policy (group and individual), taxable brokerage, checking, HYSA, CDs, 529 (owner and successor owner), the house, the car. Old employer plans you never rolled are the ones that still list an ex. A net-worth number without this list is a screenshot of balances, not a transfer plan — what net worth measures.
Screenshot the current beneficiary page before you change anything. Log in. Beneficiary / TOD / POD screen. Date-stamped image into the household folder, next to the will. If you cannot find the page, call the plan and ask them to mail a confirmation — a verbal “I think it’s my spouse” is not the form. Do not edit yet. You are collecting what a court or a plan would pay tomorrow, not what you meant in 2018.
401(k): current spouse is the ERISA default. The waiver is after the wedding. Private-employer 401(k) / profit-sharing: the surviving spouse is generally entitled to the full vested balance unless they signed a written, witnessed (often notarized) consent to a different beneficiary. A prenup is not that consent. An old form naming kids from a first marriage, with no current-spouse signature, is how federal law hands the account to the second spouse anyway — or how a fight starts if the form and the statute disagree. If the design is spouse 100%, put the current spouse on the plan’s form this week so the paper matches ERISA. If the design is kids, the current spouse signs the plan’s waiver, not a kitchen-table email. IRAs are step 4; do not copy this rule onto the IRA.
IRA: the form usually controls. Community property is a different fight. Most common-law states: the IRA beneficiary designation wins over the will, and there is no federal spouse-must-sign rule. Community-property states can still give the non-owner spouse an interest in contributions made with community funds. Blank IRA → many custodians pay the estate. An estate is not a designated beneficiary (Pub. 590-B) — death before the required beginning date (73 if born 1951–59, 75 if born 1960+) can mean a 5-year empty plus probate instead of the 10-year clock a named person would have had. Name a human primary and a human (or qualifying trust) contingent. Do not roll a 401(k) into an IRA in the same week you skip this form — rollover primer.
Primary and contingent. Never blank. Never “my estate” on a retirement account. If the primary dies first and there is no contingent, a lot of custodians pay the estate. “My estate” on an IRA is how you volunteer for probate and a worse clock. Percentages must add to 100. If two kids are 50/50, write 50/50, not “split.” Charity as a partial beneficiary is a different file (and can be the right QCD-adjacent design for someone already in RMDs) — do not make the estate the remainder “because the charity is on there.”
Minors get a custodian or a trust on the form, not just a first name. A recordkeeper will not usefully cut a $200,000 inherited IRA check to a 12-year-old. UTMA/UGMA custodian until 18 or 21, or a trust the custodian will accept as a see-through / look-through beneficiary, is how that money is held. A minor child of the owner is an eligible designated beneficiary until majority (21 under the IRS rule), then a 10-year clock starts on the rest — that is Pub. 590-B, not a reason to skip the trust conversation. This classroom does not draft the trust. Write “call estate attorney” on the sheet if anyone named is under 18, then still name a contingent adult so a blank is not the backup.
Per stirpes vs per capita — use the custodian’s words. Per stirpes: a deceased child’s share goes down to that child’s children. Per capita (or “to my surviving children”): the surviving named people re-split. If you have two kids and you care whether a grandchild inherits a dead parent’s half, the election matters. Some forms hide it under “replace deceased beneficiary.” Screenshot the election next to step 2. Do not write a will paragraph that contradicts the box you ticked.
TOD the taxable brokerage. POD the checking and the HYSA. Brokerage TOD (Uniform TOD Security Registration Act language) and bank POD are the afternoon that keeps Tuesday money out of probate. Same names as the IRA contingent stack unless you have a written reason not to. Joint with right of survivorship is a different title — it already passes to the joint owner; adding a POD on top of joint can be a mess. FDIC / NCUA is per ownership category: single accounts at one bank share $250,000; a POD / revocable-trust account is a separate category ($250k per unique beneficiary, cap $1,250,000 per owner at one bank for five or more beneficiaries as of April 1, 2024). Run large piles through EDIE. Two logins, same charter, still one bank.
House and car are state law, not a brokerage button. TOD deeds and vehicle TOD titles exist in some states and not others. Joint tenancy / tenancy by the entirety is a different (and sometimes the existing) answer. If the house is in one name, there is no TOD deed, and it is not in a funded trust, it is a probate asset even if every IRA is gold. Do not retitle a house into a child’s name as a “TOD shortcut” — that is a gift, a basis reset, and possibly a Medicaid lookback, not this file. Confirm the county / DMV form. A living trust only avoids probate on assets you actually retitle into it.
Life, HSA, and 529 are three different fields. Individual term: primary and contingent, same household design as the IRA unless the point of the policy is to fund a buy-sell or an ex under a divorce decree (then the decree wins a fight you should not freelance). Group term at work often defaults to the spouse and dies when you leave — term vs whole life. HSA: a surviving-spouse beneficiary can treat it as their own HSA; a non-spouse generally includes the FMV in income and the HSA ceases. 529: successor owner (control) is not the education beneficiary (who the money is for). Fill both. Do not copy the 401(k) names onto the HSA without reading the non-spouse income sentence.
Life-event calendar, not a vibe. Remarriage, divorce, birth, death, a 401(k) rollover, a new HYSA, a new brokerage, a house refinance that cleared the old deed. Each one is a new form. Divorce decrees can require an ex to stay on a policy — read the decree before you “clean up.” A rollover is a new account: old beneficiaries do not travel. Put a yearly reminder (birthday or tax-file week) to re-open the screenshots from step 2 and confirm they still match the sheet. SSA survivor claiming is a different afternoon — household Social Security — but the same folder should hold both.
Hard-stop list: assuming the will covers the 401(k); a prenup as the ERISA waiver; naming the estate on an IRA “to keep it simple”; a blank contingent; typing a minor’s name as 100% primary with no custodian or trust; retitling the house into a kid as a TOD shortcut; skipping the new-plan beneficiary the week a rollover posts; copying 401(k) names onto the HSA; POD on a joint account “just in case”; two banks that are the same charter and a $400k single-owner HYSA you thought was $250k + $250k; a TOD deed in a state that does not have one; skipping the will because the HYSA now has POD (the will still names a guardian and the residue). If the 401(k) still lists an ex and you are remarried, that is this week, not “when we do the estate plan.” 2026 federal basic exclusion is $15 million per person (P.L. 119-21 §70106) — most households that fail this file are a titles failure, not an estate-tax failure.
One-page decision
List the accounts. Screenshot what the custodian would pay tomorrow. 401(k): current spouse on the plan form, or a witnessed waiver if the design is someone else. IRA: named primary and contingent, never the estate. Minors through a custodian or trust. TOD the brokerage, POD the bank, state form for the house if it exists. Life / HSA / 529 as their own fields. Re-do the screenshots after marriage, divorce, birth, death, or a rollover. Keep the will for guardianship and residue. Nobody is required to fund a living trust this afternoon if the forms are right.
Worked example (educational, not estate advice): Alex, 48, remarried 2022. Old 401(k) $420,000 still names the 2018 ex; new spouse has not signed a waiver. IRA $95,000, beneficiary blank (custodian default = estate). HYSA $18,000, no POD. Taxable brokerage $12,000, no TOD. Term $500,000, two adult kids primary, no contingent; new spouse is not on the policy. House in Alex’s name only. If Alex dies tomorrow: 401(k) is an ERISA fight (current spouse vs the form); IRA is a probate estate and, because death is before the required beginning date, a 5-year empty instead of a 10-year designated-beneficiary clock; HYSA and brokerage are probate; term pays the kids and the new spouse gets $0 of the $500k; house is probate. Afternoon file: 401(k) current spouse 100% primary, kids 50/50 contingent (matches ERISA, kills the ex on the form). IRA same names. HYSA POD and brokerage TOD same stack. Term: write down whether the kids-as-primary is the actual design; if the spouse should eat, they go primary and the kids contingent. Will still for the house and residue; TOD deed only if the state has one. Gift-tax annual exclusion $19,000 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) is not this file. $420k + $95k + $18k + $12k + $500k death benefit is the file. Type your own names; this is not a form you file.