BEneficiary Designation Mistake #3

Something else we see an awful lot really just comes down to paying attention! Have you had a significant life event - marriage, child(ren) born, divorce or parents die? All of these events could impact your beneficiary designation.

In particular, if you get divorced, you should immediately update your beneficiary. Even if you want to keep your ex-spouse as beneficiary, update the relationship to state "ex spouse" so it is clear your intentions were to keep him/her as the beneficiary. Otherwise, if you do not want your ex-spouse to receive the death benefit, you should name a new beneficiary. There have been situations where the firefighter was divorced than re-married, but did not change the beneficiary form, so the death benefit went to the ex!