How to Update Beneficiaries After Divorce in Louisiana

If you die tomorrow with your ex-spouse still listed as beneficiary on your 401(k), your retirement savings go to your ex — even if your divorce decree says otherwise. This is not a hypothetical. It is federal law, and it catches thousands of divorced people every year.

Louisiana enacted Act 94 in 2024 to automatically revoke certain ex-spouse beneficiary designations, but federal ERISA preemption creates a massive exception that makes manual updates non-negotiable for the most valuable accounts.

Which Accounts Are Affected

Not all beneficiary-designated accounts follow the same rules. The distinctions matter:

ERISA-governed accounts (federal law controls):

• 401(k) plans
• 403(b) plans
• Group life insurance through your employer
• Private corporate pensions

Non-ERISA accounts (Louisiana law may apply):

• Individual life insurance policies
• IRAs and Roth IRAs
• Annuities
• Pay-on-death (POD) bank accounts

The ERISA Preemption Trap

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, federal ERISA law strictly preempts state revocation-on-divorce rules for covered ERISA plans. This means Louisiana's Act 94 (La. R.S. 9:2449.1) has no effect on ERISA-governed 401(k), 403(b), or employer group life insurance plans.

The plan administrator is legally required to pay the beneficiary named on the form on file — period. A waiver in your divorce decree, a state revocation statute, even a new will naming someone else: none of these override the beneficiary form that your plan administrator holds.

The only way to redirect these assets is to submit a new beneficiary designation form directly to each plan administrator.

Louisiana's Automatic Revocation (Limited Scope)

For non-ERISA assets, Louisiana's Act 94 (effective August 1, 2024) provides some automatic protection:

• La. R.S. 22:911.1 automatically revokes ex-spouse beneficiary designations on Louisiana-issued life insurance policies — but only for designations made after August 1, 2024
• La. R.S. 9:2449.1 extends similar automatic revocation to certain other non-ERISA financial accounts

For designations made before August 1, 2024, the old rule applies: you must manually update each beneficiary form yourself.

Even where the automatic revocation applies, filing updated forms is still the safest practice. Relying on an automatic statute when a five-minute form update eliminates all ambiguity is an unnecessary risk.

The Update Checklist

Go through every account where you have named a beneficiary:

For each account, request a change-of-beneficiary form, complete it with your new designated beneficiary (or beneficiaries), and submit it. Keep a copy of every submitted form.

What Happens If You Do Nothing

If you die without updating your 401(k) beneficiary and your ex-spouse is still listed, the plan administrator will pay your entire retirement balance to your ex-spouse. Your current partner, your children, your parents — none of them have a legal claim. The divorce decree is irrelevant. This is the direct consequence of ERISA preemption, confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Next Steps

Beneficiary updates are one piece of a broader estate planning overhaul after divorce that includes redrafting your will, revoking powers of attorney, and updating pay-on-death designations. The Louisiana After-Divorce Checklist covers the full list with specific forms and agency contacts.

See more Louisiana guides →