The Senior Desk · Go check it, then ask your institution

The beneficiary check-up: the afternoon that beats a perfect will

A free, guided walkthrough of every place a beneficiary designation hides — life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, POD and TOD accounts, pensions, and HSAs — with what to check and what to ask your institution. These designations override your will. Nothing you tick is saved or sent; it prints and works with JavaScript off.

Why this beats a perfect will

A will is not the last word on much of your money. Life insurance, retirement accounts, annuities, and pay-on-death bank accounts pass by the beneficiary designation on file with the institution — and that form overrides your will. A carefully drafted will can lose to a 1998 form that still names an ex-spouse. These forms go stale quietly: an ex still listed, a parent who has died, or no backup named at all. Checking them costs nothing and is not legal advice — it is just going through the list and asking each institution what they have on file.

It is also our first membership benefit, seen from the other end: unclaimed life-insurance money exists because beneficiaries were stale or could not be found. An afternoon spent here is money your family will not have to go hunting for later.

About the check-boxes

The boxes below are just for you. Ticking one only draws a checkmark on your screen — nothing is saved, nothing is sent anywhere, and we never see it. There is no form here and no account. Print the page and tick them with a pen if you prefer; it works exactly the same with JavaScript turned off. When you close the page, the checkmarks are gone, because they never went anywhere.

To print: use your browser's Print command (Ctrl-P on Windows, Command-P on a Mac).

The list: every place a designation hides

Work down the list. For each one, ask the institution for the current designation in writing, then tick what you have confirmed.

Life insurance you bought yourself

Go check: Call the insurer or your agent and ask for the current beneficiary designation on each policy, in writing.

The primary beneficiary is still the person you would name today.
A contingent (backup) beneficiary is listed.
No one named has died, or has divorced out of the family since the form was signed.

Life insurance through work or a group

Go check: Ask your employer's benefits office (or the union or association plan) for the beneficiary form on file for your group life coverage.

A group policy from a job you left is not still pointing at an old beneficiary.
The primary and a contingent are both named on the current employer's plan.

IRAs — traditional and Roth

Go check: Ask the IRA custodian (the bank, broker, or fund company) for the current beneficiary designation on each IRA.

Each IRA names the beneficiary directly — this overrides your will.
A contingent beneficiary is named.

401(k), 403(b), and other workplace plans

Go check: Ask the plan administrator or log in to the plan's site and request the beneficiary designation on file.

The workplace plan beneficiary is current — this overrides your will.
Plans from former jobs, including any you rolled over, name the right beneficiary.
If you are married, you know whether your spouse is the automatic beneficiary and whether a consent form was signed.

Annuities

Go check: Ask the annuity company for the current beneficiary designation and how any death benefit is paid.

The annuity's beneficiary is still current.
A contingent beneficiary is named.

Bank accounts — pay-on-death (POD)

Go check: Ask each bank or credit union whether an account has a pay-on-death (POD) beneficiary, and for a copy of it.

You know which accounts are POD and who they pay.
A POD beneficiary passes outside your will — the named person is current.

Brokerage and investment accounts — transfer-on-death (TOD)

Go check: Ask the brokerage whether an account is registered transfer-on-death (TOD), and for the current beneficiary.

You know which brokerage accounts are TOD and who they pass to.
A contingent is named where the brokerage allows one.

Pensions and survivor elections

Go check: Ask the pension plan what survivor benefit you elected and who is named to receive it.

You know whether your pension continues to a survivor, and to whom.
The survivor election on file matches who you would name today.

Health savings accounts (HSAs)

Go check: Ask the HSA custodian for the current beneficiary designation on the account.

The HSA names a beneficiary — many people never set one.
You know how the HSA is treated for whoever inherits it.

What to know before you change anything

A few facts explain most of what a check-up turns up. This is general education, not advice about your situation.

A beneficiary designation names who receives that account or policy directly, so it passes outside your will. Whatever the will says, the form on file with the institution is what controls. Bank pay-on-death (POD) accounts and brokerage transfer-on-death (TOD) registrations work the same way.

Source: General non-probate transfer law: a beneficiary designation or pay-on-death/transfer-on-death registration is a contract with the institution that passes the asset outside the will.; Fla. Stat. 655.82 (Pay-on-death accounts), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/655.82; Fla. Stat. ch. 711 (Florida Uniform Transfer-on-Death Security Registration Act), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter711/All

A contingent (backup) beneficiary receives the money only if every primary beneficiary has died before you. When no contingent is named and the primary has died, many institutions pay the account to your estate, which sends it into probate. A missing contingent beneficiary is the single most common gap a beneficiary check turns up.

Source: General non-probate transfer law: a beneficiary designation or pay-on-death/transfer-on-death registration is a contract with the institution that passes the asset outside the will.

If a named beneficiary dies before you and the form is never updated, that share may go to the surviving named beneficiaries, to a contingent, or to your estate, depending on the contract and whether the form says the share passes 'per stirpes' to that person's own children. The institution's form decides, so it is worth asking how yours reads.

Source: General non-probate transfer law: a beneficiary designation or pay-on-death/transfer-on-death registration is a contract with the institution that passes the asset outside the will.

Under Fla. Stat. 732.703, a Florida divorce automatically voids a designation that names your former spouse on many assets. There are important exceptions, including accounts governed by federal law, so it is not safe to assume it applied. Asking the institution for the current form on file is the only way to know.

Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 732 (Probate Code / Intestate Succession and Wills), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter732/All

Workplace retirement plans such as a 401(k), 403(b), or pension are governed by federal ERISA law, which can override a state divorce rule. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that these plans pay whoever is on the beneficiary form, even a long-divorced ex-spouse. Filing an updated form with the plan is what changes it.

Source: Egelhoff v. Egelhoff ex rel. Breiner, 532 U.S. 141 (2001) (ERISA preempts state automatic-revocation-on-divorce rules); Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Sav. & Investment Plan, 555 U.S. 285 (2009) (plan pays the beneficiary named on the plan's form)

For many private employer retirement plans, federal law makes your current spouse the automatic beneficiary, and naming someone else usually requires the spouse's written, notarized consent on the plan's own form. The plan administrator can tell you whether that rule applies to yours.

Source: Employee Retirement Income Security Act; Retirement Equity Act spousal-consent rules for qualified plans, 29 U.S.C. 1055

A minor child usually cannot legally receive or control life-insurance or retirement money directly. If a minor is named outright, a court may have to appoint a guardian of the property to hold it until age 18 (Fla. Stat. ch. 744), or it may pass under the Florida Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (Fla. Stat. ch. 710). Asking the institution how it handles a minor beneficiary is worth doing before naming one.

Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 744 (Guardianship), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter744/All; Fla. Stat. ch. 710 (Florida Uniform Transfers to Minors Act), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter710/All

Naming 'my estate' as beneficiary pulls the asset into probate and can expose it to creditors and delay. For a retirement account it can also mean there is no 'designated beneficiary,' which can force the money out faster and raise the income tax (IRS Publication 590-B). It is worth confirming what the form actually says.

Source: Fla. Stat. ch. 732 (Probate Code / Intestate Succession and Wills), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter732/All; IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-590-b

A trust can be named as beneficiary, but for a retirement account it only works well if the trust is written to receive that kind of asset under the IRS 'see-through' rules. Whether a particular trust qualifies is a legal question for the attorney who drafts it, not something to guess at on the form.

Source: IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-590-b; Fla. Stat. ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code), https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/Chapter736/All

SECURE Act inherited-account timing. This was not confirmed for 2026, so it is named here for awareness only and is not stated as a rule. Confirm current guidance or ask a professional before relying on it.

When you need documents drawn up

Preparing or reviewing a will, a trust, a power of attorney, or a deed is legal work, and it belongs to a licensed Florida attorney. If you do not have one, The Florida Bar runs a free Lawyer Referral Service that points the public to Florida lawyers: floridabar.org or 800-342-8011.

We receive nothing for pointing you there — no payment, no commission, no share of anything the attorney charges. Florida's rules forbid a lawyer from splitting a client's payment with a non-lawyer, and we would not take it in any case. The referral is free, and it stays free of us.

Keep going

We show you what to check. What you find is yours.
— The Senior Desk