Check Your Beneficiary Designations
A Sad Story or Three
I recently came upon a couple of stories regarding beneficiary designations and unhappy endings. I've heard many throughout my years, but this is the first I've read where the case went to the Supreme Court.
The first story was about a long-time DuPont employee who experienced a divorce. His ex-wife was excluded from any right to his pension in the divorce decree, but he failed to change the beneficiary designation on his savings and investment plan. The opinion doesn't state if the DuPont employee remarried, but he died seven years after the divorce and DuPont paid about $400,000 to his ex-wife. Of course, the estate sued and the case worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The estate lost. The court unanimously ruled that his error could not be corrected.
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Jane Hagedorn
If you enjoy being able to dine in a smoke-free restaurant, you may want to thank Jane Hagedorn. As the former executive director of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, she helped spearhead efforts to reduce smoking and improve California's air quality. For more than three decades, Hagedorn and a dedicated team of staff and volunteers worked on a diverse range of initiatives, from passing Proposition 99, which increased the state's tobacco tax, to helping children with asthma and reducing air pollution.
"Every day we got things done that were important," says Jane. Though she retired from her leadership post in 2009, Jane looks back with fondness on her time with the organization, which she feels she has left in good hands. Kori Titus, a long-time Breathe California employee, took over the executive director position in 2009, after demonstrating excellent leadership in all areas of nonprofit mission and management.
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