Choosing the Beneficiary of a Life Insurance Policy

At the time of signing a life insurance policy, the policyholder is required to designate the beneficiary, that is, the person who will receive the agreed sum from the insurance company, in the event that the circumstance indicated in the contract occurs.

Who Can Be Named as Beneficiary

The policyholder can specify the beneficiary of a policy at the time of signing the contract, or at a later stage, by sending written notice of their choice to the insurance company, or by indicating the nomination within the will.

To achieve precise identification, it is important to specify unequivocally the name, surname, tax code, and address of the designated person. Otherwise, the insurance company may encounter difficulties in paying the benefit to the correct person.

There are also generic formulas to indicate the beneficiary:

• spouse of the insured;
• legitimate heirs of the insured (divided equally);
• children born and unborn of the insured (divided equally);
• heirs indicated by the insured in their will or legitimate heirs in the absence of a will (divided equally).

The law allows the designation of multiple beneficiaries of a single policy, in which case it is important for the policyholder to specify the percentage of capital to be attributed to each of them. In the case of multiple beneficiaries without a precise indication of individual shares, the division will be equal.

If, as an extreme case, the insured and the beneficiary pass away simultaneously, the company will be required to pay the capital to the heirs of the beneficiary and not to those of the insured, if they are different.

It is the policyholder's responsibility to inform the beneficiary of the designation in their favor, because it will be the latter's duty, in the event of an unexpected event, to notify the company to initiate the payment process of the insured capital.

Changing the Beneficiary

Can the policyholder change the beneficiary of the policy?
The answer is yes, and it is possible to change it whenever deemed appropriate.

To make the change, the policyholder must write directly to their insurance company, which will take care of changing the contract by reissuing the new nomination.

It is possible to change the beneficiary in the will, still sending notification of the change to the company.