You may own certain financial accounts that independently request that you fill out a legal contract that discloses the individual who should inherit their funds upon your passing. Since setting up this account, you may change your mind about this beneficiary designation. You may try to rectify it by naming your preferred beneficiary in your Last Will and Testament document. With this, you may assume it does not matter that there are conflicting pieces of information across these two legal documents, as your will document will most likely come out on top. However, it most certainly does matter. Please read on to discover which financial accounts typically override a will’s instructions on beneficiary designations and how a seasoned Broward County wills lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can help you avoid making any accidental estate distributions.
What financial accounts typically override a will’s instructions?
Simply put, your life insurance policy, retirement accounts, bank and investment accounts with payable on death or transfer on death designations, and annuities are the most common types of financial accounts that will override your will’s instructions on beneficiaries. This is because these accounts are governed by their respective financial institutions, and they will not be passed off to the Florida probate court at the time of your death. This is to say these properties and assets will not undergo the probate process, and your will document can only control the things that do.
What happens if I get divorced from or remarried to a beneficiary?
You may feel satisfied that you were able to keep your life insurance policy in your divorce. However, you may not have thought about how your now ex-spouse is still listed as its designated beneficiary. Well, you may be relieved to learn that Florida is a state that automatically revokes an ex-spouse as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy upon divorce. However, if you eventually get remarried, you must still make the effort to revisit your policy. This typically involves obtaining a change of beneficiary form from your insurer and listing your new spouse.
What happens if I never name a beneficiary on my accounts?
You may have never decided on who should inherit your life insurance, retirement account, etc., and therefore never got around to submitting a beneficiary designation form with the respective entities. Unfortunately, you may never find time to do this before your unfortunate passing. Only in this case may these properties and assets be given to the Florida probate court. Here, the court may distribute these accounts based on the state’s intestacy laws, which typically go to your surviving spouse, then surviving children, parents, siblings, and so forth.
If this is what you are currently up against, do not try to put up a fight without the legal assistance of a competent Broward County estate lawyer from The Probate Lawyers. We urge you to retain our services as soon as possible.
