Change Your Designated Beneficiaries After Your Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage is Entered in Your Orlando, Florida Area Divorce
Avoid the situation that occurred in Lynn Martinez-Olsen v. The Estate of Dan Olsen cited below. Save your loved ones from unnecessary stress and litigation by updating your designated beneficiaries after your Orlando, Florida divorce case is finalized. That way, your intended beneficiaries will not have to deal with contentious litigation in the legal process. You need to update your beneficiaries after the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.
Why You Need to Update Your Beneficiaries
Would you want your ex-spouse to get your account in the event of your death? The answer is probably no. To avoid this, update those beneficiary designations after divorce. This is especially true if you have children from a former marriage. You want to avoid the situation in Martinez-Olsen v. The Estate of Dan Olsen. That was a recently litigated case on the enforcement of a Marital Settlement Agreement that recently appeared in Florida Law Weekly.
What Happened in Martinez-Olsen v. The Estate of Dan Olsen
The case of Lynn Martinez-Olsen v. The Estate of Dan Olson can be found in 46 Fla.L.Weekly D1943a (Fla. 3rd DCA Sept. 2021). In this case, the Third District Court of Appeals for Florida ruled on an issue regarding the Dissolution of Marriage Marital Settlement Agreement on an enforcement issue regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security in a Post Dissolution action by the estate seeking to enforce the Marital Settlement Agreement to recover proceeds from deceased former husband’s ERISA governed 401(K) plan that was distributed to the former wife, as a named beneficiary under the plan.
How the Court Ruled in Martinez-Olsen v. The Estate of Dan Olsen
The Court ruled that ERISA does not preempt post-distribution suits against named beneficiaries to enforce contractual waiver of plan proceeds after the proceeds have been distributed by ERISA plan administrator pursuant to the plan documents. The Court also ruled that plain language of Marital Settlement Agreement in this case was specific enough to override the beneficiary designation form where the agreement referenced the disputed 401(K) plan and the proceeds therefrom, specifically provided that former husband and former wife would receive any and all benefits of his or her own 401(K) plan, including all increases thereof; the proceeds therefrom and any rights related thereto, of which the other party waives; and releases any and all claims of interest therein. The Court ruled that because the former wife waived entitlement to the proceeds paid over to her as named beneficiary by private agreement, application of Florida’s revocation-on-divorce statute is not required.
How to Avoid this Outcome
To avoid putting your family through this kind of litigation, make sure that you have a well-written Marital Settlement Agreement so there can be no confusion in the future as to what was intended in the agreement. Further, make sure you check all your beneficiary designations after the divorce, and change them if they are not the beneficiary you currently want to receive the asset.
If you have more questions regarding a Marital and Family Law matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not form an attorney client privilege.