Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

Chapter 3: Marital Matters

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the participant’s death. GCM 39858 involved a spousal disclaimer of REA-guaranteed benefits and does not mention any deadline for such a disclaimer earlier than nine months after the participant’s death, holding that: “There is no evidence that Congress intended to preclude a spouse from disclaiming or renouncing benefits under a qualified plan payable after the participant’s death.”  Since the statutory exemption is limited to REA-guaranteed benefits, and many plans actually grant the spouse more rights than REA guarantees (see ¶ 3.4.05 ), a spousal waiver of such excess benefits could be treated as a gift-taxable transfer. There have been no cases or rulings on this question.