How to Update Beneficiaries After Divorce

Mississippi Revokes Some Designations Automatically — But Not All

Mississippi Code § 91-29-25 automatically revokes provisions that name an ex-spouse in wills and revocable trusts upon divorce. Mississippi Code § 91-29-23 separately addresses beneficiary designations on individually owned life insurance policies governed by Mississippi law. The applicable statute treats the ex-spouse as having predeceased the decedent, redirecting the benefit to contingent beneficiaries or the estate.

This applies to decedents who die on or after July 1, 2020, as clarified by 2025 House Bill 103.

The automatic revocation sounds like a safety net. But it has critical exceptions that leave some of the largest accounts unprotected.

What the Automatic Revocation Covers

• Wills and revocable trusts (the ex-spouse is treated as having predeceased)
• Beneficiary designations on individually owned life insurance policies governed by Mississippi law

What It Does Not Cover

Employer-sponsored retirement accounts. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, federal ERISA law preempts state revocation statutes for employer-governed plans. If your ex-spouse is named as the beneficiary on your 401(k), 403(b), or employer-provided life insurance, the plan administrator must pay them regardless of what Mississippi law says — unless you manually change the designation.

Mississippi PERS death benefits. The revocation statute explicitly excludes beneficial interests in public retirement systems. If a PERS member dies without updating their PERS beneficiary form after divorce, the ex-spouse may receive the death benefit.

Transfer-on-death bank accounts. Update these designations manually rather than relying on an automatic revocation.

IRAs are in a gray area. Traditional and Roth IRAs are not ERISA plans (they're governed by IRS rules), so state revocation statutes can apply in theory. But IRA custodians (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard) follow their own policies and may pay the named beneficiary regardless. Don't rely on the automatic revocation — update the form.

The Manual Update Checklist

Contact each institution individually to update your beneficiary designation. You'll typically need a certified copy of the divorce decree and a new beneficiary designation form.

Employer retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), pension). Contact your employer's HR department or the plan administrator. Request a new beneficiary designation form, complete it with your updated beneficiaries, and submit it. Keep a copy.

Life insurance (employer-provided and individual). Contact each policy's insurer. Employer-provided group life insurance is ERISA-governed and must be manually updated. Individual policies may be covered by the Mississippi auto-revocation, but update them anyway — relying on a statute is no substitute for a form on file.

IRAs and brokerage accounts. Log into each account or call the custodian. Update both primary and contingent beneficiary designations.

Bank accounts with payable-on-death (POD) designations. Visit the bank and update the POD beneficiary. Banks process death claims based on their records, not legal research.

Mississippi PERS. If you're a PERS member, submit an updated beneficiary designation form directly to PERS. This is separate from any DBO that divides retirement benefits.

Why Urgency Matters

If you die before updating an ERISA-governed account, the plan administrator pays whoever is on file — your ex-spouse. Your estate or heirs would need to pursue litigation to recover the funds, and federal case law strongly favors the named beneficiary on ERISA plans.

Updating beneficiary designations is one of the simplest post-divorce tasks, but it's also one of the most commonly skipped. The Mississippi After-Divorce Checklist includes a complete beneficiary audit tracker that covers every account type, the specific update process for each, and which designations are and aren't automatically revoked.

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