To most persons, thinking about death is an abomination. It is however impossible to ignore death as a reality of life. It is for this reason that writing a will is important. Writing a will starts with naming your dependents. Very many different people can be the dependents. It is important though to let them know of the contents.
A beneficiary is the person who is named in a will to benefit from the assets of the person who wrote the will. The successor to an estate or other assets is the beneficiary. Sometimes the beneficiary is a minor which means that they will wait to reach legal age to get the benefits in the will. It is important for the benefactor to let the beneficiaries know about the will early. This will eradicate confusion when you die.
After writing your will, make it a habit to revisit and review it regularly. There are life changes that can lead you to change the content of the will. Of importance also is that you should also have alternate or secondary beneficiaries. This means that if the primary beneficiary was to die, the secondary ones will inherit your assets automatically. Ensure that your will is updated at all times.
There are several categories of beneficiaries. First, we have the irrevocable beneficiary. Seek advice of your attorney and financial advisor before naming irrevocable beneficiaries. It is very difficult to change the identified irrevocable beneficiaries. On the other hand, there are revocable beneficiaries. This one can be changed in case something happens in life. Things like marriage or divorce can call for alteration of beneficiaries.
A primary beneficiary is defined as the person who is in line directly to receive your assets upon your death. Insurance companies will always ask for this person first. Then there is a contingent or alternate beneficiary. In case there is death of the primary beneficiary, then the contingent beneficiary stands to inherit the properties. Another group is that of residuary beneficiaries. These are named to get very particular items from the benefactors. An example is when a grandmother assigns a particular jewel to a grandchild.
Residuary benefactors can also have alternate benefactors under them. People to be named in a will are many. Most people prefer to name their spouses as primary beneficiaries. After naming the spouse, it is good to name the alternate beneficiary. Children would be the ideal alternate beneficiaries after the spouse is named as the primary beneficiary. There are many people who prefer to have children as primary beneficiaries.
It is also possible to have charities and friends as beneficiaries in your will. It is a personal choice. More information about wills can be found online for further reading. The fact that we never know when death will come to us means that writing a will early is of vital importance.