Changing Beneficiaries After Divorce in Rhode Island

Here's a fact that catches most people off guard: if you die without updating your beneficiary forms after a Rhode Island divorce, your ex-spouse collects the payout. Not your children. Not your new partner. Your ex.

Rhode Island has not adopted Uniform Probate Code § 2-804, which automatically revokes an ex-spouse's beneficiary status upon divorce. More than 26 states have this protection. Rhode Island doesn't.

What Rhode Island Law Does (and Doesn't) Do

Rhode Island's will revocation statute (R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-5-9.1) automatically revokes provisions in a will that benefit a former spouse. The law treats your ex as if they predeceased you. That part works.

But this only applies to probate assets — property that passes through a will. It does not apply to:

• Life insurance policies
• 401(k) and 403(b) accounts
• IRAs (traditional and Roth)
• Annuities
• Payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts
• Transfer-on-death (TOD) brokerage accounts
• Revocable trusts

These "non-probate" assets pass directly to whoever is named on the beneficiary form. Financial institutions are contractually obligated to pay the named beneficiary, and courts will enforce the written designation over any conflicting language in a divorce decree.

The ERISA Override

For employer-sponsored retirement plans governed by ERISA (most 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and corporate pensions), federal law goes further: the plan administrator must follow the beneficiary form on file, period. Even a specific clause in your divorce decree waiving your ex's rights to your 401(k) is unenforceable against the plan unless the beneficiary form itself is updated.

The Supreme Court confirmed this in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff (2001) and Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont (2009). If the form says your ex, the plan pays your ex.

What to Update

Within 60 days of your Final Judgment:

Life insurance: Contact every carrier — employer group life, individual term policies, whole life — and submit new beneficiary designation forms. Name primary and contingent beneficiaries.

Retirement accounts: Update beneficiary forms with every 401(k), 403(b), IRA, and pension plan administrator. For ERSRI participants, submit a separate ERSRI Beneficiary Designation Form directly — the system does not receive updates from employers.

Bank accounts: Review POD designations on savings accounts and CDs. Visit your bank to update or remove the former spouse.

Brokerage accounts: Check TOD designations on investment and brokerage accounts.

Annuities: Contact the annuity issuer directly to change death benefit recipients.

Don't Wait for the QDRO

A QDRO divides the current balance of a retirement account. It doesn't automatically change who inherits the account if you die. These are two separate actions:

1. File the QDRO to divide the account now
2. Submit a new beneficiary designation form to control who inherits what's left

Both must happen. Doing only one leaves a gap.

The Rhode Island After-Divorce Checklist includes a beneficiary audit worksheet that tracks every account type, carrier, and confirmation date so nothing slips through.

See more Rhode Island guides →