---
title: "Map retirement-plan death-benefit designations against the trust deed"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/trusts-and-estate-planning/map-death-benefit-and-retirement-fund-nominations-against-the-deed/united-states"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A19-T1-R7-US"
practice_area: "Trusts & Estate Planning"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["US"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-22"
---

# Map retirement-plan death-benefit designations against the trust deed

> Table each designation on the file, the plan's rule if nobody is named, and the person the deed says should receive the death benefit. Do not decide who is paid.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/trusts-and-estate-planning/map-death-benefit-and-retirement-fund-nominations-against-the-deed/united-states  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Trusts & Estate Planning](https://ailawframework.com/practice/trusts-and-estate-planning.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | Table each designation on the file, the plan's rule if nobody is named, and the person the deed says should receive the death benefit. Do not decide who is paid. |
| What the lawyer must review | The IRS beneficiary page says the owner designates a beneficiary under the plan's procedures. A will or a trust deed does not, on that page, replace a missing designation. For deaths in 2020 or later, an eligible designated beneficiary is a spouse, a minor child, a disabled or chronically ill individual, or an individual not more than 10 years younger than the owner. Other designated beneficiaries follow the 10-year rule. Do not use one rule for earlier deaths. ERISA § 404 requires a fiduciary of a plan to follow the plan documents insofar as they are consistent with ERISA. You read both the designation and the deed. The table does not decide the claim. |
| Written for | United States |
| Applies to | [Map death-benefit and retirement-fund nominations against the deed](https://ailawframework.com/practice/trusts-and-estate-planning/map-death-benefit-and-retirement-fund-nominations-against-the-deed.md) |

## Checking plan

- What the AI does: Table each designation on the file, the plan's rule if nobody is named, and the person the deed says should receive the death benefit. Do not decide who is paid.
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 22 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Notes

- Do not treat the deed as the plan designation.
- Do not apply the post-2019 categories to a death in 2019 or earlier.

## Sources

- [IRS, Retirement topics — Beneficiary](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [29 U.S.C. § 1104, Fiduciary duties](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/1104) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [ABA Formal Opinion 512, Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools (29 July 2024)](https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional_responsibility/ethics-opinions/aba-formal-opinion-512.pdf) (checked 2026-10-22)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Trust funding checklist (United States)](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/trusts-and-estate-planning/us-trust-funding-checklist.md) | Checklist | Yellow | A post-signing list for moving assets into a US trust, separating state deed formalities from beneficiary forms and from FIRPTA when a foreign grantor later sells. |
| [Map of a superannuation death benefit nomination against dependants and the estate](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/trusts-and-estate-planning/death-benefit-nomination-map.md) | Memo | Red | Map of whether a binding or non-binding death benefit nomination, if the fund allows one, pays a dependant or the legal personal representative. The lawyer decides. The nomination is not drafted here. |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*