How Do I Check My Beneficiaries Are Up to Date?
The Beneficiary Check-In
Go through your accounts one at a time and confirm who is named on each. A beneficiary designation overrides your will, so an old name on a 401(k) beats whatever your estate plan says. Most accounts show the current beneficiary on a statement or in your online login, which is why this takes about five minutes rather than an afternoon.
Why does this matter more than most of an estate plan?
Because a beneficiary designation overrides your will. Whatever your estate documents say, the accounts that carry a named beneficiary pass to that name.
If you have changed jobs, married, divorced, or had a family change since you opened an account, there is a real chance an old name is still on file. Nobody finds out until it is too late to fix. Outdated beneficiaries are one of the most common things we catch when reviewing a new client’s accounts.
This is a general rule about how these accounts work, not legal advice about your situation. If something here looks wrong, an attorney is the right next call.
How to use this
- Check your latest statement or online account for each one. Most show the current beneficiary directly.
- If you cannot find it in five minutes, mark it as needing attention and move on. That is still useful information.
- Revisit this whenever something in your life changes.
The Beneficiary Check-In is also a free printable worksheet, with a row for each account and columns for the current beneficiary, when you last reviewed it, and whether it needs updating.
Download the free guide (PDF)Retirement accounts
These are the ones most likely to carry a name you set years ago and have not looked at since.
- 401(k) or employer retirement plan
- IRA or Roth IRA
- Annuity
Everything else
- Life insurance policy
- Bank account with a payable-on-death designation
- Brokerage or investment account
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
An HSA is worth a second look. It passes very differently depending on who inherits it: a spouse can generally keep it as an HSA, while others typically face the full balance as taxable income in one year. How does an HSA work covers the rest of it.
Once you have checked
If anything here is unclear, out of date, or just unknown, that is the one thing worth a call this week. Not because it is urgent, but because it is easy to keep forgetting.
While you are in the paperwork, If Something Happens to Me is the companion page: who to call and where things are, for the days when nobody can ask you.
There is no cost to ask us about any of this, and no obligation.
If this mattered to you
Beneficiary forms decide where money goes. They say nothing about why, or what you hoped the person receiving it would do with it. The Legacy Vault is where that part lives, and The First Chapter is a single recorded conversation if you would rather start small.
Quick answers
- Does a beneficiary designation really override a will?
- Yes, for the accounts that carry one. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities and payable-on-death bank accounts pass to whoever is named on the account, regardless of what a will says. This is a general rule and not legal advice about your situation.
- When should I check mine?
- Any time something in your life changes: a job change, a marriage, a divorce, a birth, or a death. Those are exactly the moments an old name gets left behind, and nobody finds out until it is too late to fix.
- What if I cannot find the beneficiary on an account?
- Give it five minutes, then mark it as needing attention and move on. That is still useful information. An account you cannot check quickly is an account worth a phone call.
- Is this a form I submit somewhere?
- No. It is a list to work through so you know where you stand. Any actual change is made with the account provider, not with us.