Can a fiduciary under ERISA make benefit payments to a beneficiary who is not a beneficiary of the ERISA plan?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Estate of Schaad, E044022 (Cal. App. 12/12/2008), E044022 (Cal. App. 2008):

ERISA strives for nationally uniform plan administration; varying state automatic revocation laws defeat that purpose. (Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, supra, 532 U.S. 141, 148-149 [121 S.Ct. 1322, 1328, 149 L.Ed.2d 264, 272-273].) ERISA itself provides that the fiduciary should make benefit payments to the "beneficiary" who is "designated by a participant, or by the terms of [the] plan." (29 U.S.C. 1002(8).) Thus, the plan administrator should be able simply to look to the beneficiary designation made (if allowed by the plan) by the plan participant.

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