What is a beneficiary designation form?

Beneficiary Designation Form (ET-2320) allows you to name primary, secondary and tertiary beneficiaries. Beneficiary Designation (alternate) Form (ET-2321) allows you to name primary and secondary beneficiaries and/or successors to those beneficiaries.

What information do you need to make someone your beneficiary?

Most beneficiary designations will require you to provide a person’s full legal name and their relationship to you (spouse, child, mother, etc.). Some beneficiary designations also include information like mailing address, email, phone number, date of birth and Social Security number.

Why is beneficiary designation important?

Beneficiary designations allow assets to pass directly to whomever you designate thus by-passing the costs and time involved with the probate process. In some cases, more value passes by beneficiary designations than under a will. Beneficiary designations are easy to make and relatively easy to change.

What happens if you do not name a beneficiary?

Not naming a beneficiary. If you don’t name anyone, your estate becomes the beneficiary. That means the asset could be subject to a lengthy, expensive and cumbersome probate process – and people who wind up with the asset might not be the ones you’d have preferred.

Can a company be a beneficiary of a life insurance policy?

Almost anyone can be a life insurance beneficiary, including people, organizations and trusts. Multiple people, like your children. A trust. Your estate.

Do beneficiaries of life insurance policies need to know how do you file a claim if the insured dies?

Beneficiaries typically need to alert the life insurance company to the insured’s death by filing a claim. If you have the policy documents, they will tell you everything you need to know about the coverage and how to file a claim.

Why is it important to name a beneficiary on a life insurance policy?

The probate system can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money, depending on probate fees or estate administration tax in the province where you live and the value of assets distributed through your estate. That’s why it is so important to name a beneficiary for assets such as your life insurance policy.

Who should you name as beneficiary?

Generally, you can designate any one or more of the following examples as a beneficiary:

• One person.
• Two or more people (and you decide how the benefit is split among them)
• The trustee of a trust you’ve established.
• A non-profit or charity.
• Your estate.

What happens if you don’t have a beneficiary on your life insurance?

To sum it up, if there is no beneficiary, your life insurance death benefit will go to a contingent beneficiary. If there is no contingent beneficiary, your death benefit will go to your estate. Once in your estate, your death benefit will be taxed and used to pay your debt.