Beneficiary forms quietly override your will

A will governs the distribution of assets that go through probate. Many common assets, though, pass directly to whoever is named on a beneficiary designation form, regardless of what a will says — including 401(k)s and IRAs, life insurance policies, and any account set up as “payable on death” or “transfer on death.”

This creates a specific, well-documented failure mode: someone updates their will — after a divorce, a remarriage, a new child — but never goes back and updates the beneficiary forms on their retirement accounts or life insurance, which were filled out years earlier and quietly still name an ex-spouse, or don't include a child born since. When the account holder dies, the beneficiary form wins, not the more recently updated will.

A few points worth knowing generally, with the caveat that specifics vary by state and account type and this isn't a substitute for an estate attorney's review:

• Beneficiary designations should be checked after every major life event — marriage, divorce, a new child or grandchild, a death in the family — not just when the will itself is updated.
• Naming a specific person is usually clearer than naming an estate. “My estate” as a beneficiary generally sends the asset through probate anyway, which is often exactly what a beneficiary designation is meant to avoid.
• Contingent beneficiaries matter too. If a primary beneficiary has already died and no contingent beneficiary is named, the asset can end up in probate by default.

This is a genuinely easy thing to get right — most account providers let you review and update beneficiaries in a few minutes online — and a genuinely common thing to get wrong simply by never revisiting it. It's worth checking every few years, or after any of the life events above, and worth reviewing with an estate attorney or advisor as part of a broader estate plan.