Amending Retirement Plans to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages
Plan sponsors need to review retirement plan documents and
operations to determine whether changes are needed in response to
last year's Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor
and subsequent IRS guidance. Under most circumstances, any needed
plan amendments should be adopted no later than December 31,
2014.
In Windsor, the Court struck down Section 3 of the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition to
same-sex marriages. As a result, plan sponsors were required to
change their plan administrative practices to provide same-sex
spouses with the rights required by federal law. For example,
same-sex spouses of participants in profit-sharing, 401(k) and
other defined contribution plans must be treated as the default
beneficiary, unless they consent to the participant's
designation of another beneficiary. Refer to our
prior client alert for a list of spousal rights under qualified
plans
