Should my Beneficiary Meet with my Estate Planner?

When working to create an estate plan, there is a lot to consider. For the most part you can count on your financial planner or family attorney to keep on top of any details that you may fear you will forget. Estate planning can be affected by a lot of details and many tax regulations so having an expert handle each step is just as important as visiting your doctor to stay healthy.

After all, estate planning is not always the most pleasant thing to tackle. It is important to do it for your loved ones, of course, so as to protect them from any financial issues or problems that could arise after your death. Getting your estate planning done is essential in order to leave behind what you want the way you want it. It can also allow you to keep the peace among your loved ones after you are gone.

Part of the process of estate planning may be creating a will. During this step, you most likely needed to choose and executor or executrix on your behalf who will handle much of your estate matters after you are gone. They would do this generally with the help of an attorney who is experienced in the area of wills, trusts and estates.

A beneficiary to your life insurance may be someone else, such as your spouse. If this is the case, then it is likely not at all a bad idea to have them accompany you to meet with your estate planner when needed. This person could be the same as the executrix named in your will, of course. Any plans certainly would benefit by being reviewed and understood by all parties.

Preparing for Future Possibilities

However, in the event something were to happen that causes you to need to assign a different beneficiary or executor it may cause you to rethink needing to bring that individual to meet with your estate planner. It can happen that any one person named as a beneficiary to a life insurance policy needs to be removed from having that designation. There are of course several reasons for this to be the case such as, unfortunately, their death.

But, sometimes in the case of a divorce or other personal falling out it is not unusual to need to rename a beneficiary. If the situation is one that is personally tenuous or uncomfortable, you may not wish to have the new beneficiary meet with the estate planner. You may not want to create additional problems or even grief for your new beneficiary by bringing them to a meeting.

Generally, any legal or insurance document can be changed with regard to a beneficiary designation without that person being present. If you simply need to make a change to an insurance policy or even to a 401k in the event of your death, you may simply go ahead and do so. There may be other occasions wherein it would be more appropriate to let the individual know of the change ahead of making it. But, it may not warrant bringing them to the estate planner's office with you.

For any complex issues that could arise in your personal life as a result of choosing a different beneficiary or even one who is not blood related you would need to sense if it is a good idea to bring them to meet with the estate planner. You may wish to consult with your estate planner first, in fact. They can determine if it is advisable to have any beneficiary meet with them or not.

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