Question asked on Aug. 25, 2020

Q: When he died I received his life Ins., 401k and deed to the house, but I could not collect his pension since we were not married. He does have a will.

A: There are many different kinds of pensions, each with its own rules, and most of them permit beneficiary designations; further, if you had a registered domestic partnership, the inheritance rules are the same as for a marriage.  For a recap, see the article Retirement Benefits for Legal Professionals: A Very Brief Primer (CLE, October 9, 2015), posted here and look at the Domestic Partnership page of our web site. We have a division called QDRO Masters; please call 702-438-4100, ask to speak with one of our QDRO Masters personnel, with some information about the specific pension involved, and they should be able to tell you what, if anything, you can do to collect on the survivorship interest of the pension involved.