by Melanie Cullen

Make sure your survivors can access your retirement and pension accounts.

There are good reasons to make a record of your retirement accounts: After your death, your survivors will want to file claims for any outstanding benefits, and if you ever become incapacitated, the person in charge of your finances will have to manage those accounts for you.

To make these tasks easier for your loved ones, you should keep a list of basic information about your retirement accounts, pension plans, and Social Security benefits. This article gives you tips on how to do that. First, however, here are some essential rules about what happens to retirement benefits after your death.

To learn more about organizing all of the documents relating to your estate, not just retirement accounts, see Nolo's Getting Organized for Your Family Resource Center.

What Happens to Retirement Accounts When You Die?

Each of your retirement accounts and pension plans should name a beneficiary. (Don't use your will to name beneficiaries for your retirement plans. For more on what not to include in your will, see What You Can't, or Shouldn't, Do in Your Will.) Money remaining in the accounts at your death (and any pension payments due to you) will pass directly to the beneficiaries you have named, without the hassles and expense of probate court.

For some plans, including 401(k)s and most pension plans, the law requires you to name your spouse as beneficiary unless he or she signs a form giving up that right. For IRAs and employer profit-sharing retirement plans, you may name any beneficiary you choose. (If you live in a community property state, however, keep in mind that your spouse has a legal right to half of the money that you earned during marriage.) If you're married and you don't want to leave all your retirement benefits to your spouse, make sure you know the legal rules.

Your Family May Be Eligible for Social Security Benefits

After your death, your family may be entitled to Social Security survivor benefits. Eligible family members will receive monthly payments -- as much as the full retirement amount that would have been paid to you.

Your spouse qualifies for benefits if he or she is:

• at least 60 years old, or
• at least 50 years old and disabled, or
• any age, if he or she is caring for your child -- and the child is under age 16, or is disabled and receiving Social Security benefits.

Your unmarried children are entitled to survivor benefits if they are:

• under the age of 18, or
• between 18 and 19, but attending elementary or secondary school full time, or
• age 18 or older and severely disabled, with a disability that started before age 22.

Other eligible survivors may include your dependent parents, divorced spouse, stepchildren, and grandchildren.

In addition to ongoing survivor benefits, your spouse or minor children may also be eligible for a one-time payment of $255 upon your death. For more information, see the Social Security website at www.ssa.gov.

Listing Your Retirement Accounts and Benefits

It shouldn't take long to make a record of your retirement plans and accounts. Taking a little time to do it now may save your loved ones a good deal of trouble down the road.

At minimum, you should make a list of every plan that you have, whether or not it pays benefits now, or you expect benefits in the future. Remember to include:

• employer-sponsored plans or pensions
• IRAs (traditional, Roth, SIMPLE, or SEP-IRAs), and
• Keogh, profit-sharing plans, or self-employed 401(k)s for small business owners.

For each account, list the following information:

• the name of the managing organization or financial institution
• the account or identification number
• contact information for your account manager or adviser (if any)
• whether or not you're currently receiving benefits, and if so, how much, and
• the location of your plan statements.

You should also list and describe your Social Security benefits, including those based on your earnings (or disability) that go to your family members and those you expect in the future.