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Contingent Beneficiary 04/30/2021

There isn’t enough you can do to prepare for the future. At some point, you’re going to have to consider creating a will to make sure all your assets go to the people you want them to go to. It’s not an easy topic due to its finality, but it’s something that should be done sooner rather than later. One aspect of creating a will is deciding who will be your contingent beneficiary. Ideally, you wouldn’t need one of these. However, it’s better to plan ahead for outside possibilities than to take chances. Luck, after all, favors the prepared.

So, what is a contingent beneficiary?

The best way to answer that is to establish the definition of a primary beneficiary. Your primary beneficiary is the person who inherits your assets should you pass away. This includes money and property. The contingent beneficiary is only used if the primary beneficiary cannot fulfill their role for any number of reasons. They could have been incarcerated, unable to be reached, or even have passed away. The benefits of the primary fall on the contingent.

The qualifications for being named a contingent beneficiary are pretty broad. They can be friends, other relatives, charities, etc. It’s possible they could even be minors. They just won’t be able to claim the inheritance until they turn 18. You can also name multiple contingent beneficiaries. If you’d like, you could leave who gets what up to the multiple parties. This probably isn’t the best course of action. Instead, dictate the percentage of what goes to who. This can look any way you want. And if you decide the people you named are not the ones you want, you can easily change it. It’s your money and property, so you get to decide who it all goes to.

Choosing a contingent beneficiary is entirely up to you. If you do, it is a great idea to keep in touch with whomever or whatever it is you’ve chosen. Any number of things can happen, so you want to make sure your contingent beneficiary is able to fulfill their role.