My Funeral Costs as Beneficiary?

[Jus'Me]

What is the name of your state? California

Hi, I browsed around a bit to see if this had already been covered, but it's so individual I figured a fresh post might be more helpful.

I'm single, no children. 29 years old. My only living family is my mother.
My parents took out a life insurance policy for me when I was a child. There is currently no named beneficiary. I would like to name my mother as the primary beneficiary. Seeing as it's quite likely I will outlive her, I would like to make my own funeral costs my contingent beneficiary. How would I go about doing this? Would I draw up a will and include it like that? Would I make an agreement with my church and name them as my beneficiary? Or similar with my chosen funeral home?

Any advice anyone could give would be very much appreciated. I have absolutely no idea where else to turn for help in figuring this out.

 

[Zigner]

Who currently owns the policy?

 

[Betty]

If you are now owner of the policy, you can make your contingent bene your estate. When you die if your mother (primary bene) is no longer living, the proceeds would become part of the probate estate & can be used to pay any bills/creditors that you might have including the funeral home. Only the owner can make any type of change to a policy.

 

[wheel]

If you are now owner of the policy, you can make your contingent bene your estate. When you die if your mother (primary bene) is no longer living, the proceeds would become part of the probate estate & can be used to pay any bills/creditors that you might have including the funeral home. Only the owner can make any type of change to a policy.

Quite right. An other alternative would be to list someone else as your beneficiary - probably the same person you've got listed as your probate. By naming them directly, they'll get paid the death benefit basically in cash, directly from the insurer. And that'll avoid potential delays and probate/legal fees that you may get dinged by paying the insurance into your estate.

Depends I suppose if you want the money going to someone else, or staying inside your estate.

 

[Betty]

She can do that but the co. I worked for suggested the estate in this situation. The main reason being if you named someone else bene, they can do what they wish with the proceeds.

 

[Dandy Don]

You need to discuss this with your mother to find out what her original intentions were. YOU may not be able to designate a beneficiary, but SHE will most likely be able to.

 

[Betty]

Again though, if the mother is owner & named someone other than the estate as bene, the bene named can do what they wish with the proceeds.