Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Re: life insurance beneficiary

No. Massachusetts law holds that beneficiary designations -- be they on life insurance policies, IRA/401K accounts, or other financial accounts which do not pass through probate -- are not affected by the Will. In fact, the appellate courts have ruled in several cases in the past several years that the decedent's ex-spouse -- not the current one -- gets the life insurance policy if the decedent forgot to change the benficiary designation. Therefore, you need to pay attention to ALL your beneficiary and title designations on ALL your accounts to be sure that your estate plan works the way you want it to.

Since so many assets can pass without ever going through probate, please feel free to contact me to review your assets and draft an estate plan that meets your goals.

Re: life insurance beneficiary

NO.

A named beneficiary under a life insurance policy, will get the proceeds in the event of your death. If you want the proceeds to go to someone else, you will need to change your beneficiary.

I suggest you contact the attorney who prepared your Will for assistance.

Good Luck.

Re: life insurance beneficiary: Probate Estate OR Not.

They are both correct.

Apparently you are or may be confused about the role of a will vs. life insurance.

There are 2 mehtods to leave something if you die. The first method is a will, where you designate the distributions, and essentially appoint someone to carry out your wishes. The second by-passes your estate. The distributions are made at the time of death, and never reach your estate for such divisions as you may wish under a will.

WHich one you choose depends on your assets and desires.

If you have any more questions, or need assistance contact me.

Re: life insurance beneficiary

No. Your will only covers probate property, and property that is controlled by a beneficiary designation, such as life insurance or a retirement plan, is not probate property. Life insurance does not go through probate and is not part of your probate estate UNLESS your estate (or the executor of your will) is named as the beneficiary of the policy on the beneficiary designation.

Life insurance IS, however, included in your TAXABLE estate and is subject to estate tax if you own the policy at your death or retain any "incidents of ownership" over it, such as the right to designate a beneficiary (note that your taxable estate is NOT the same thing as your probate estate). For this reason, if the policy is a large one, it is a good idea to have an irrevocable life insurance trust, or ILIT, own the policy and be designated as its beneficiary. If the policy is already in place and you transfer ownership to an ILIT, there is a 3-year waiting period before the policy is excluded from your taxable estate. If the ILIT is put in place before the policy is taken out and the ILIT buys the policy, this 3-year rule can be avoided.