Beneficiary Information

What is a beneficiary?

This is the person or entity (a trust fund, for instance) named in an insurance policy as the recipient of the proceeds in the policy, in the event the policyholder dies.

In addition to naming a specific beneficiary to receive the proceeds of your insurance policy , you should name a secondary or "contingent" beneficiary, just in case you outlive the first beneficiary.

It is important to have accurate and up-to-date beneficiary information so that benefits at your death are transferred to the appropriate persons. The following are typical beneficiary designations:

	Your spouse as the primary beneficiary and your children as contingent beneficiaries.
	One person as the primary beneficiary; e.g. spouse, child, brother, or sister.
	Two equal primary beneficiaries; e.g. mother and father, brother and sister.
	One primary beneficiary and two contingent beneficiaries; e.g. primary - friend, secondary - brother and sister.
	Estate as primary beneficiary; e.g. the name of the executor or administrator.
	Trustee as primary beneficiary in a living trust agreement; e.g. full legal name and address of bank or other institution or its successors, as trustee under a trust agreement, including date of agreement.
	Institution as primary beneficiary; e.g. full legal name and address of institution.

To designate beneficiaries: