Plan sponsors should constantly encourage their participants to make beneficiary elections. Plan sponsors should also review all completed forms to make sure they are signed/dated, spousal consent is given properly if needed, and primary and contingent beneficiaries are elected. Education meetings with participants should always cover this topic. The participant’s failure to make an election can result in added responsibility for the plan sponsor to determine the recipient of the benefit. Making sure participants have these elections is the simplest way to avoid an inevitable problem when these elections
