Install
Beneficiaries guides
Annuity beneficiaries and inherited annuity optionsWhat a beneficiary can do with an inherited annuity: lump sum, spousal continuation, 5-year or stretch payouts for non-qualified, 10-year rule for qualified.What happens if your beneficiary dies before youWho gets the death benefit when a named beneficiary dies first: contingent beneficiaries, shares, anti-lapse rules, simultaneous deaths and the estate fallback.Life insurance beneficiary disputes and interpleaderWhen two people claim one death benefit, insurers file interpleader. How Rule 22 and 28 U.S.C. 1335 work, and what claimants should do.Collateral assignment of life insuranceHow pledging a life insurance policy to a lender works, what the lender can collect, how it affects your beneficiaries, and how to release it.Community property states and life insuranceHow community property law in nine states can give a spouse a claim to life insurance bought with marital earnings, even when someone else is the beneficiary.Employer life insurance, ERISA and beneficiary disputesHow ERISA governs workplace life insurance beneficiary fights: the plan-documents rule, Egelhoff, Kennedy, claim deadlines and how to protect your form.Why naming your estate as beneficiary is usually a mistakeNaming your estate as life insurance beneficiary sends the money through probate and exposes it to creditors. When it still makes sense, and the alternatives.Divorce and your ex as beneficiary: revocation-on-divorce lawsWhether divorce removes your ex as life insurance beneficiary depends on state law, the type of policy and your decree. Compares Texas, Florida and the UPC.How to change your life insurance beneficiaryStep-by-step: who can change a beneficiary, the form and confirmation to get, when you need consent, and mistakes that let an old designation stand.How to choose a life insurance beneficiaryWho to name as a life insurance beneficiary, how to split shares, and when a trust or custodian beats naming a child or your estate. Includes a checklist.Irrevocable beneficiariesWhat an irrevocable beneficiary is, what the owner can no longer do without consent, when divorce or a loan makes one necessary, and how to remove one.Leaving life insurance to charityThree ways to give life insurance to a charity: name it beneficiary, donate the policy, or buy a new one. How each works and the tax rules.Naming a minor child as life insurance beneficiaryInsurers won't pay a minor directly. Compare a court guardianship, a UTMA custodian and a trust for children's life insurance money, and how to set each up.What happens if no beneficiary is namedWho gets life insurance money when no beneficiary is named or none survives: policy default orders, the estate and probate, group plans, and how to prevent it.Per stirpes vs per capita beneficiary designationsPer stirpes sends a deceased beneficiary's share to their children; per capita splits it among survivors. A worked example and what to check on your form.Policy owner vs insured: why it mattersThe owner controls a life insurance policy; the insured's death triggers payment. When they are different people, rights, taxes and risks change.Primary vs contingent beneficiariesA primary beneficiary is paid first; a contingent beneficiary is the backup. How the two levels work, how to split shares, and what happens when both are gone.The slayer rule: when a beneficiary can't collectThe slayer rule bars a beneficiary who intentionally kills the insured from collecting. How UPC 2-803 and state laws work, the proof required and who is paid.Transferring ownership of a life insurance policyHow to change a policy's owner by gift, sale or trust, and the gift tax, three-year rule and transfer-for-value traps that can follow.Naming a trust as your life insurance beneficiaryWhen a trust makes sense as a life insurance beneficiary, which kinds of trust work, how to name it on the form, and the mistakes that send the money astray.