Wednesday, December 15, 2010 NEET Tips
NEET Tips answers questions posed online to the NEET website.
Do the provisions of a will override a beneficiary designation?
No, rather a beneficiary designation overrides the provisions in your will. The reason is that your beneficiary designations form part of a contract that you have with the financial institution managing the account, and contractual provisions overrule language included in a will. For this reason, it is advisable to check every couple years to ensure all of the beneficiary designations on your financial accounts, including retirement accounts and life insurance policies, are up to date and reflect your current wishes. Also, if you are recently divorced or widowed, update your beneficiary designations immediately. It frequently happens that former spouses receive life insurance proceeds, to the dismay of current spouses.
See the articles:
Why Beneficiary Designations Are So Important; and
Beneficiary Designations Are the Final Word |