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UPDATE THOSE BENEFICIARIES

  • Writer: Treavor Dodsworth CFP®, CPA, CKA®
    Treavor Dodsworth CFP®, CPA, CKA®
  • May 9
  • 1 min read

You finally did it. You have been saying you want to complete your legal documents- Will, POA, etc. Last week you finally did it. Now you can rest easy because your estate planning is now completed for the rest of your life, right? Wrong.

Update Those Beneficiaries

You must continually ensure your legal documents stay up to date and that your beneficiaries stay up to date.


Generally speaking, your beneficiary designation is going to trump what your Will says. So if your Will says you want to split everything between your kids and your beneficiary designation on an account says that account goes to your mom, that account will likely go to your mom (confirm with an attorney).


Therefore it is always important to make sure your beneficiaries reflect your wishes even if you have legal documents completed. It is worth taking 30 minutes to an hour to list out your accounts/life insurance/etc. and then login to each one to confirm the beneficiaries match what you would like them to be.


Typically you can set both a primary beneficiary and a contingent beneficiary. Oftentimes you can find beneficiary designations in the "Profile" or "Settings" section of your online account.


I have this on my list as well (currently our third son is left off - sorry Caleb). I just added an hour "appointment" to my calendar where I can go through and make the updates.


There can be some very nuanced tax rules with beneficiaries so make certain to discuss with an attorney and tax professional. Neither Monthly Financial Coaching nor any representative is an attorney. Please discuss any estate planning with an attorney.

 
 

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