If you do not list a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, who does the money go to?

Question

If you are an employee of PA, and you do not list a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, who does the money go to? or, What if you were an employee in NJ?

Answer 1

It goes to your estate. So your will would determine who gets it. If you have no will, your state's intestacy provisions apply, which may mean the state gets its sticky paws on your money. That is why choosing a beneficiary is a good idea. It is also a good idea because the money is available to your beneficiary much more quickly as a rule as it can be distributed outside of probate.

Answer 2

Can I answer a question with a question? What good is a life insurance policy if you have no beneficiary? I mean, a life insurance policy, in most cases, is to help the family(or whoever) financially when you die. Why would you pay money into an account that nobody is going to draw from?

Answer 3

Assuming the person is still upright and ambulatory, it seems to me the answer to your question likely depends first upon the terms of the policy itself, followed by state law. In short, the policy and/or state law may not mandate the designation of a beneficiary, as the policy or state law will address the failure to do so for the person.

For example, if the life insurance policy was provided to the employee as a perquisite of his or her employment, failure to designate a beneficiary could result in the policy itself providing the answer for the employee (beneficiary by default, i.e., spouse, but if your spouse predeceases you then to your children, and if no kids, then to your parents and so forth).

You may also want to consider whether the laws of testate / intestate succession in PA or NJ might similarly provide you your answer, with both appearing to me as dependent upon whether the policy owner died intestate (without a will) where contract or state law could decided for the person who takes the asset, or where the policy owner died testate (with a will), with the question then being asked whether the asset was in fact described and then disposed of as part of the decedent's estate. The possibilities are many, so. . . .

Recommendation: Whether you be an employee of the State of New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or maybe even the State of Florida, there seems little doubt the PA, NJ or Fla. State Employee Benefits Coordinator has the requisite horses to provide the individual asking an airtight answer to this species of legal question, arguably with the kind of precision likely unavailable anywhere else on the planet Earth.

Should the given state Benefits Coordinator not have the answer (something which would not only astonish this person, but amaze me as well), then I wouldn't hesitate to spend the dime necessary to employ and then consult with qualified legal counsel in the jurisdiction of choice (or wander aimlessly about the internet). The attorney selected can undoubtedly give an answer to what seems to be a comparatively simple question which, in the first instance, presents a predicament that could easily be avoided via simply designating one's favorite niece or nephew as beneficiary.

If, alas, we find the person who failed to designate their beneficiary hitherto dropped off the twig of life, thereby rendering impossible their performing the relevant task, then expect the issue to be one which will more likely than not resolve itself via operation of state contract or statutory law, and with the decedent happily being completely oblivious to the legal conflagration thereby created, and which issue will undoubtedly provide the requisite legal fodder for those attorneys ultimately employed to advance the claim of the individual who feels it is he or she who should be declared by the court as being the ultimate, albeit unnamed, beneficiary of the decedent.

Sometimes the decision to do otherwise than name a beneficiary can be seen as a form of parental perversion, with the decedent actually wanting to give the children just one last chance at resolving their differences with one another . . . coming to a simple agreement (something Mom or Dad simply couldn't understand their being unable to achieve during the parent's life). And, when they drop the ball in this endeavor, watch as the lawyers earn, and then spend, that which the kids could have enjoyed . . . if only they had just come to their senses!


Jabba

Answer 4

First, I think it is necessary to put someone or somethings name for beneficiary (wife, child, or favorite charity?)

I would suppose it would go into probate, like the estate if there is no name--or does not get paid.

Answer 5

the only time something would be paid out to a contingent is that if there are not any surviving ordinary beneficiaries left. on your occasion, if something handed off to you and your daughter, your sister would obtain the full one hundred%, regardless of in case you had a contingent beneficiary.

Answer 6

the estate.. then there is a formal notice in newspapers to any and all that may have claims, these go against the estate.. for instance say you own a car that you are paying on.. if when you signed for that car, you didnt get insurance that the car would be paid for in the event you died, then the car place can take the car back as a claim against the estate...

Answer 7

that would be unusual that an insurance company would overlook this, but if they did, it would go to your estate and be a part of it in probate court and be diisributed as the court deems the law.

Answer 8

The estate in both cases - then in is settled & goes to your heirs