Changing the beneficiary on a life insurance policy

How to change beneficiary on life insurance

To change the beneficiary on your life insurance:

1. Request confirmation. Ensure that the change has taken place as requested.
2. Contact your insurance company or agent. Ask for a Change of Beneficiary form.
3. Fill out the form. Ensure you have filled everything out correctly and in full and provided the new beneficiary’s full legal name and all other required details.
4. Submit the form. Ask your insurer for your options: mail, online or in person.

“Typically it’s as easy as calling your agent if you have a local one,” Colin Desnoyers, an agent with the Moore Agencies of New England, says. “Companies now will usually have a web portal that clients can use where they can change some information like that.”

Can you change the beneficiary at any time?

Yes, in general, you can change the beneficiary at any time. There is no specific time when you can change the beneficiary. You can change it the day after your policy goes into effect or 10 years later. There is no mandatory waiting period.

However, there are a few times when you can’t change the beneficiary:

• The policy is held in a trust
• If the beneficiary is irrevocable (requires their signature)
• There is a court order or divorce decree that restricts changes

Revocable vs. irrevocable beneficiary

There are two types of beneficiaries: revocable and irrevocable.

A revocable beneficiary:

• Can be changed without the beneficiary’s consent
• Does not require anyone’s approval except the policyholder
• Is the most common type

An irrevocable beneficiary:

• Can’t be changed without the beneficiary’s consent
• Must be approved by both the beneficiary and the policyholder
• Is most often used in divorce decrees and estate planning

When can a policyholder change a revocable beneficiary?

An irrevocable beneficiary cannot be changed by the policyholder alone once it is locked in. The only way an irrevocable beneficiary can be removed from a policy is for that beneficiary to agree to forfeit their rights to any money.

Who can change the beneficiary on a life insurance policy?

The only person who can change the beneficiary is the policyholder. The policyholder is the person who has their name on the life insurance plan. There should only be one policyholder per plan.

Who can be a life insurance beneficiary?

You can name anyone you like as your beneficiary, although certain state laws may apply to spouses. You can name:

• Individuals
• Charities or organizations
• Trusts
• Estates 

Special considerations:

• Multiple beneficiaries: You can specify percentages of the benefit to go to more than one person
• Minors: In general, a minor can’t be a beneficiary; in this case, consider a trust
• Contingent beneficiaries: You can name a secondary person as the beneficiary in case the primary beneficiary is deceased

Desnoyers says that while changing the beneficiary is easy, many people should consider who will receive the money, as well as ensure it is used as intended.

“A lot of people really put a lot of stock in [the beneficiary], but at the end of the day, a beneficiary is who we’re releasing the money to,” Desnoyers says. “A lot of families think ‘well, we’ve established a beneficiary so that’s where the money’s going to get and it’ll stay there.’ A lot of the times they don’t have the other tools other than just a named beneficiary, like a last will and testament or other things to make sure the money is handled correctly.”