Many years ago, I had a client who divorced her husband. Six months later he died.
He didn’t update the beneficiary on his life insurance policy after the divorce. She was the lucky recipient of his policy. Whether he wanted to leave her the inheritance is anyone’s guess.
One client broke up with her boyfriend years prior to her marriage and I noticed that her IRA still had his name as beneficiary. We quickly updated the paperwork so it reflected her new husband’s name. Good catch on my part!
Why do I ask clients to review their beneficiaries? Whoever you listed as your beneficiaries will get an inheritance. If you pass without indicating specifically who you would like to receive your assets, it can cause a lot of heartache and, in some cases, a lot of money going to court to sue an estate. Or worse, if it’s a long-lost love or a sister you stopped speaking with and you forgot to update the paperwork with their name on it, they’re getting a nice inheritance that you didn’t want them to have.
If you’d like a beneficiary review, please click here to set up an appointment.