Single mistake in your retirement funds can lockout your loved ones inheriting your retirement income. Even well-constructed plan prepared by veteran wealth advisors and attorneys could overlook this simple step. It is the correctly filled and properly filed beneficiary form. Properly completed document should contain name of each heir and the share of funds each designee should receive. Avoid referring to another document such as your will, testament and other final documents. This violates the instructions which calls for names and allocation percentages and therefore, violates the requirement to complete the form properly causing the form to be invalidated. Then the result may be not something you intended. In the absence of a property completed designation form, your IRA, bank accounts, stocks, annuities, bonds and other retirement funds may be distributed to your surviving spouse and children. It had happened to too many people where heirs learned a costly lesson.

Beneficiary forms may help your heirs to bypass probate and access funds immediately after your death. It is also important to update the form when changes occur. When you complete a form, keep a hard copy of it in your valuable documents so that your heirs can find it easily.