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Estate
The 10-Minute Beneficiary Review Every Family Should Do
4 min readBy Pauline Githara
The fastest way to derail an estate plan is a stale beneficiary form. Here’s a quick checklist you can run today.
Beneficiary designations override your will. A forgotten ex, a deceased parent, or a blank line can send assets to the wrong place — or through probate unnecessarily.
The 10-minute checklist - Life insurance policies (primary and contingent). - 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), IRA, and Roth IRA accounts. - Annuities and pension survivor elections (CalPERS/CalSTRS). - HSA accounts — yes, these have beneficiaries too. - Bank and brokerage accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death settings.
What to look for - Every account has a primary beneficiary. - Every account has a contingent beneficiary. - No names are deceased, divorced, or estranged by accident. - If a trust is the beneficiary, it’s the right trust, spelled correctly.
After you’re done Write a one-page summary and keep it somewhere your spouse (or executor) can find. Nothing fancy — just a list. The person handling your affairs will thank you.
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