Often times, our lives and relationships change, but we may not always think of all the things that need to change with those relationships.
My client and friend, shared an article with me. The couple had broken up since 1989. You read that correctly, over 35 years ago. They had both moved on with other relationships, and even marriages. The couple were never married to each other and had not produced any children from their relationship.
Fast forward to a few years ago when the male passed away, and his now long time girlfriend is set to inherit $1 million from his retirement account that he had made her a beneficiary in 1987. Meanwhile, even though he and his wife are divorced, she was not entitled to any of the assets.
My job is not to debate the merits of who should get what.
My job is to share with you that as you can see from this case, if you have someone listed on your retirement documents, or insurance policies, or an old will, that they will be entitled to your assets. This applies whether you are still in a relationship or not.
For further clarification, if you have updated your will, but did not update your retirement or insurance beneficiaries, those assets will be passed by order of the retirement or insurance documents, not by will.
It is imperative that you keep track of your financial assets. Especially older 401k or IRAs and insurance policies that may be easy to forget about if you left a company many years ago. These assets are still yours and whomever you listed as the beneficiaries many years ago, will inherit your hard earned assets.
I hope this is helpful as you consider all your assets and who you would like to have them if you are not around.
*Unfortunately I was unable to link the actual article. It is posted both on Benzinga and Yahoo if you’d like to search it up.