Who can change the beneficiary of a life insurance policy? The policyholder is usually the only person allowed to make changes to your life insurance beneficiaries.

Is my spouse automatically your beneficiary?

The Spouse Is the Automatic Beneficiary for Married People A federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), governs most pensions and retirement accounts.

Who is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy?

Often it comes down to whether you live in a community property state, and those states are: In these states, both spouses equally own the income that was earned during the marriage — which means if a life insurance policy was purchased during your spouse’s first marriage, his or her first spouse is entitled to some of that money.

Can a surviving spouse file a life insurance claim?

If a life insurance policy was purchased with community property income (if premiums were paid using community property money), the surviving spouse may file a life insurance claim for half or a portion of the policy proceeds if someone other than the spouse is listed as the beneficiary. The beneficiary will receive the rest.

Can a spouse be a beneficiary of a death benefit?

However, when they are not, there are circumstances under which they are still entitled to some or all of the death benefit. If your spouse or ex-spouse died, had life insurance, and did not name you as beneficiary, you may still have a right to some or all of the death benefit depending upon the circumstances.

What happens to life insurance proceeds when the spouse dies?

If the insured person dies and the ex-spouse is still named as beneficiary, the proceeds go to the secondary beneficiary; if there isn’t a secondary beneficiary, they generally go into the deceased’s estate. This protects current spouses from oversights.