Under Beneficiary Succession, if the primary beneficiary predeceases the insured, who receives the proceeds?

Under Beneficiary Succession, if the primary beneficiary predeceases the insured, who receives the proceeds?

• A. Contingent beneficiary
• B. Tertiary beneficiary
• C. Primary beneficiary
• D. No one

Answer: (A)

In life insurance, there’s a primary beneficiary who would receive the death benefit, and a backup person named as the contingent beneficiary who steps in if the primary dies before the insured. If the primary predeceases the insured, the proceeds don’t stay with the insured or go unassigned—the backup, the contingent beneficiary, automatically becomes the recipient. This arrangement ensures the benefit still goes to someone named in the policy rather than defaulting to the insured’s estate. If no contingent is named, the proceeds could go to the insured’s estate and be handled by Will or state law. So the backup beneficiary is the one who gets the proceeds when the primary doesn’t survive the insured.

In life insurance, there’s a primary beneficiary who would receive the death benefit, and a backup person named as the contingent beneficiary who steps in if the primary dies before the insured. If the primary predeceases the insured, the proceeds don’t stay with the insured or go unassigned—the backup, the contingent beneficiary, automatically becomes the recipient. This arrangement ensures the benefit still goes to someone named in the policy rather than defaulting to the insured’s estate. If no contingent is named, the proceeds could go to the insured’s estate and be handled by Will or state law. So the backup beneficiary is the one who gets the proceeds when the primary doesn’t survive the insured.