Who should own your life insurance?

Question

Many people say that you should not own your policy & that it should be in a trust so that it is not part of your estate. But, when you die, it is not in your estate, it goes to the bene right?

Is there a right/wrong, good/bad way to handle policy ownership? What about making changes? if you dont own it, can you make changes if you need to?

Also, in what instance should the bene be the trust or a person?

olivia:
I am not talking about beneficiaries. I know the beneficiary gets it, but the question is who should OWN the policy.

Answer 1

Well, I want to OWN my life insurance policy! Because the OWNER gets to pick the BENEFICIARY. The life policy is NOT part of your estate, unless the beneficiary is your estate (which is kinda dumb, it defeats the purpose most of the time).

The ONLY person who can make changes is the policy owner. The ONLY time the policy should be owned by someone else, IMO, is if the insured person is a minor, or is legally incompetant.

OR, if your estate planner tells you to, but he has to tell you WHY, and you have to UNDERSTAND it.

Answer 2

Whoever is paying the life insurance is the policy owner. Usually a family member can only purchase a life policy on you. There also must be an insurable interest between the payer (the policy owner) and the one being insured. Of course, the insured is the one who will be subjected to medical underwriting tests and must agree to have the coverage on him/her. If someone is paying for your life insurance, you should ask yourself, "do i have a problem with it?" Though, it may kept you on high alert on the person who is insuring you.

In most cases, it is usually the insured who owns the life insurance policy. It is only the policy owner who can make changes in the policy and who he/she can name the beneficiary. The policy owner has options on what he/she wants to do with the cash value.

So it makes sense that the one being insured should be the one paying the life insurance. The one who pays is the one who owns the policy.

As for your question for the beneficiary, you should only name a trust for a beneficiary IF: you want the death proceeds to pay for a child's education. In most cases, a person will name someone they care about as a beneficiary (such as spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, etc.). However, there is no law that states the beneficiary must have an insurable interest on the insured. So, you may be able to name a pet as a beneficiary (though many insurance companies requires that the beneficiary have a social security number so they can track where the beneficiary lives).

If there is no beneficiary named or all the beneficiaries are dead, your estate is the beneficiary. Whoever is related to you, the court will decide who will get what.

Answer 3

The beneficiary listed on the policy gets the money regardless who is listed in the will.

Answer 4

i've got self assurance each and every grownup would desire to very own their very own coverage - using fact purely the coverage proprietor can substitute the beneficiary clause. It has no longer something to do with "getting tied up in escrow". The beneficiary gets the payout, era. in the adventure that your husband owns the coverage on your existence, and you divorce him, he can substitute the beneficiary to his 18 365 days previous female pal, so in case you kick off, his female pal gets the money. in basic terms an occasion. yet divorce does not substitute the reality that he owns the coverage, and it won't provide you any beneficiary naming rights - it is purely as much as the owner.

Answer 5

i would want to own my policy on my own life, just say my wife owns it and we divorce, i cant change it at all, she can just keep paying the premium and collect the death benefit when i die, regardless of if i remarry,or have kids

it happens, i would just want the control of it for myself