In general, special rules designed to protect the rights of a participant's spouse apply to most qualified plans except a profit sharing plan or an ESOP, which provides that in the case of either a lifetime or death distribution, the participant's spouse will receive the participant's plan benefit. A plan must provide that, absent an election by the participant and the consent of a participant's spouse, a lifetime payment must be made in the form of a joint and survivor annuity. In addition, a plan must provide that, absent an election by the participant and the consent of a participant's spouse, if a participant is vested in any portion in the participant's plan benefit and dies before payments begin, the payment must be in the form of a pre-retirement survivor annuity.

Neither provision applies if the plan provides that the participant was not married to the participant's spouse for at least one year prior to the distribution event. Moreover, the participant may elect a contrary payment form with the consent of a participant's spouse.