The beneficiary designation on an account controls where that account goes when you die, and your will does not touch it. After a Florida divorce, state law voids an ex-spouse designation on some accounts automatically, but not on a 401(k) or an FRS pension, and even on the accounts it does fix, the bank or insurer is legally allowed to pay your ex anyway. Filing a new form is the only thing that reliably works.

This isn’t legal advice, and nothing here replaces a conversation with a Florida-licensed estate planning attorney. It’s a map of how the rule splits by account type, because most articles on this topic flatten three different outcomes into one sentence.

Does my beneficiary designation really override my will?

Yes. An IRA, a 401(k), a payable-on-death bank account, a transfer-on-death security, and a life insurance policy or annuity all pass directly to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, regardless of what a will says. A will and any revocable trust only control assets that don’t already have a named beneficiary or joint owner. Our guide on trust versus will in Florida covers what those documents actually reach. A mismatched beneficiary form is one of the more common gaps between an estate plan on paper and what actually happens at death.

What does Florida law do to an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation?

Fla. Stat. 732.703(2) voids a beneficiary designation naming a former spouse, but only if the marriage was judicially dissolved before the person died and the designation was made before that dissolution. When it applies, the statute says the decedent’s interest “shall pass as if the decedent’s former spouse predeceased the decedent,” meaning it skips the ex and moves to whoever is named next, or falls back to probate if no one else is named. This only applies to a Florida resident at the time of death, and it only reaches assets described in the statute. Florida law carves out entire categories from that list, which is the part most articles skip.

Which accounts does the divorce rule actually cover?

Fla. Stat. 732.703(3) lists six categories: a life insurance policy or annuity held inside an employee benefit plan, an employee benefit plan itself, an IRA under IRC section 408 or 408A, a payable-on-death bank account, a transfer-on-death security, and a life insurance policy or annuity not held inside an employee benefit plan or a tax-qualified retirement account. In plain terms, that reaches a private IRA, a payable-on-death account, a TOD brokerage account, and a personally owned life insurance policy or annuity. It does not automatically reach every retirement account, which is the mistake worth avoiding.

Why doesn’t this apply to my 401(k)?

Because federal law steps in first. Fla. Stat. 732.703(4)(a) says the state rule doesn’t apply “to the extent that controlling federal law provides otherwise,” and for an employer-sponsored plan governed by ERISA, federal law does. In Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001), the Supreme Court held ERISA preempts a state law that automatically revokes a spouse’s beneficiary designation on divorce. In Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings & Investment Plan, 555 U.S. 285 (2009), decided 9-0, the Court went further: the plan administrator was right to pay the ex-wife named on the form, even though the divorce decree had already stripped her of any interest in the plan. The plan pays whoever is on the form, and a divorce decree alone does not update it. If you changed jobs since the divorce, our 401(k) rollover guide for a job change covers what else moves with the account, but the beneficiary form does not move on its own. A planner working through 401(k) rollover coordination can confirm the current form matches your intent.

Why doesn’t this apply to my FRS pension?

Because Florida carved its own retirement system out of its own statute. Fla. Stat. 732.703(4)(j) says the divorce-revocation rule does not apply “to state-administered retirement plans under chapter 121,” which is the Florida Retirement System, and that carve-out sits inside how the statute defines “asset” in the first place. FRS says this plainly in its own materials: “Your will, trust agreement, or divorce decree have no bearing on how your Pension Plan survivor benefits are paid.” An active Pension Plan member’s current spouse becomes the automatic beneficiary as of the most recent marriage, unless someone else was named after that marriage. A retired member under Option 3 or Option 4 with a spouse named as joint annuitant keeps that spouse as survivor after a divorce unless a notarized JA-NUL form is filed with the divorce paperwork, and that option is unavailable if a Qualified Domestic Relations Order prevents it. Once filed, a nullification cannot be reversed. Active members use Form BEN-001; retired members and DROP participants under Option 1 or Option 2 use Form FST-12. This is Pension Plan language specifically. The FRS Investment Plan runs on its own rule through the State Board of Administration, so confirm which plan applies before assuming the rule. Our guide to the Investment Plan versus the Pension Plan covers the difference. This matters across Pasco County, because chapter 121 defines an FRS employer to include county agencies, district school boards, and municipalities that participate in the system, which is a large share of the households we’re asked to match.

If the designation is void, does my ex actually lose the money?

Not automatically, and this is the fact most worth knowing. Even where 732.703(2) voids the designation, the statute shields the bank, insurer, or plan that pays it out anyway. Subsection (6) gives a flat protection on payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death securities, and non-plan insurance and annuities: the payor “is not liable for making any payment on account of, or transferring any interest in, the asset to any beneficiary.” Subsection (5) does similar work for plan assets and IRAs, keyed to what the death certificate says about marital status. Subsection (7) then applies both “notwithstanding the payor’s knowledge that the person to whom the asset is transferred is different from the person who would own the interest” under the statute. In plain terms, the institution can pay the ex-spouse on file and face no liability, in some cases even knowing the designation is void. Subsection (8) then leaves the rightful beneficiary to pursue the ex-spouse directly, after the money is already gone. “Void” describes who legally owns the money. It does not guarantee who receives the check.

What happens to a contingent beneficiary when an ex-spouse designation is voided?

The asset passes as though the ex-spouse died before you did, so it moves to whoever you named as the contingent, or secondary, beneficiary. If no contingent beneficiary was ever named, the asset falls back into your estate and goes through probate under your will or Florida’s intestacy law. This is why a beneficiary form with only a primary listed, and no backup, is worth fixing regardless of marital status. Our guide on estate planning cost in Pasco County covers what it costs to have documents and titling reviewed together.

Which accounts fix themselves after divorce, and which don’t?

Here’s the split in plain terms:

  • Fixed automatically (with the payor-protection caveat above): a private IRA, a payable-on-death bank account, a transfer-on-death brokerage account, and a personally owned life insurance policy or annuity not held inside an employer plan.
  • Not fixed automatically: a 401(k) or other ERISA-governed employer plan. Federal law controls, and the ex-spouse stays on file until a new form goes to the plan.
  • Not fixed automatically, ever, by this statute: an FRS Pension Plan or FRS Investment Plan account. Chapter 121 is carved out of Florida’s divorce-revocation law entirely, so the member has to file the FRS-specific form.
  • Also outside the rule: an asset governed by another state’s law, jointly owned property that passes to a surviving co-owner, and a case where you remarried the same former spouse and were still married at death.

Given the payor-protection caveat running through every category, filing a new beneficiary form after a divorce removes the risk entirely, on every account type, rather than relying on which statute applies.

Where does a financial planner fit into this?

A financial planner doesn’t change your FRS beneficiary, your 401(k) beneficiary, or your IRA beneficiary. Those are forms the account holder files directly with the plan, the custodian, or the insurer, and anything genuinely contested, like a dispute over a divorce decree’s effect on a specific account, belongs with an attorney. What a planner can do is pull every account, check who’s actually named against what you intend today, and flag the gaps before they turn into the kind of situation subsection (8) describes. The form also decides what the person you name will face later, since inherited IRA rules in Florida put most non-spouse beneficiaries on a 10-year withdrawal clock. Our estate planning coordination service checks beneficiary forms against your broader plan, and this work often comes up alongside ongoing wealth management as accounts get opened, rolled over, and consolidated over the years. Wesley Chapel Wealth Pro matches Pasco County households, including those around Wesley Chapel, with independent licensed planners for this kind of review. We don’t manage money or give advice ourselves, and matching is free.

Frequently asked questions

Does my will name my beneficiaries for my IRA or 401(k)?

No. The form on file with the custodian or plan administrator controls those accounts, and it overrides anything a will or trust says. Update the form itself rather than assuming a new will fixes it.

If I get divorced, does Florida automatically remove my ex from my life insurance?

Only if the policy is a personally owned policy or annuity not held inside an employer plan, you were a Florida resident when you died, the divorce was finalized before death, and the designation naming the ex was made before the divorce. Even then, the insurer is legally protected if it pays the ex-spouse anyway, so filing a new form is safer than relying on the statute alone.

Does divorce automatically remove my ex-spouse from my 401(k)?

No. Federal ERISA law controls employer-sponsored plans, and the Supreme Court has held that state automatic-revocation laws don’t reach them. The plan pays whoever is named on the form, so file a new one with the plan directly after a divorce.

Will my divorce decree update my FRS pension beneficiary for me?

No. Florida specifically excludes the Florida Retirement System, chapter 121, from its automatic divorce-revocation statute. An active Pension Plan member’s current spouse becomes the automatic beneficiary as of the most recent marriage, and a retired member with a spouse named as joint annuitant under Option 3 or 4 keeps that spouse as survivor unless a notarized JA-NUL form is filed with divorce paperwork, which is unavailable if a Qualified Domestic Relations Order prevents it and cannot be reversed once filed. Confirm which FRS plan applies before assuming the rule.

What happens if my ex-spouse’s designation is voided and I never named a backup beneficiary?

The asset falls back into your estate and passes through probate, following your will if you have one or Florida’s intestacy law if you don’t. Naming a contingent beneficiary on every account avoids this outcome and keeps the asset out of probate.

It depends on the specific plan. Some retirement plans require particular beneficiaries, such as a spouse, under their own plan terms, while others don’t. This isn’t a rule that applies the same way across every account, so check the plan or policy’s own requirements rather than assuming.

Get your beneficiary forms reviewed

A beneficiary form is one of the few documents in an estate plan a person can fix themselves, in minutes, without an attorney, and it’s also one of the most commonly forgotten after a divorce, a remarriage, or a job change. If you want to be matched with an independent, licensed Pasco County planner who can check your accounts against your current intentions, call Wesley Chapel Wealth Pro at (813) 680-3195.