10/17/2026
What if the person you intended to inherit your assets receives them before your will is ever read?
Many people assume their will determines exactly who receives their money, property, and other assets after they pass away. But there's an important distinction that often gets overlooked: not everything you own is necessarily controlled by your will.
Certain assets, including life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts, can transfer directly to the beneficiaries you've designated. These transfers generally occur outside of probate, meaning the instructions in your will may have no effect on who receives them.
Consider this: You created your will years ago, carefully outlining how you want your estate distributed. Since then, your relationships, family circumstances, or financial priorities have changed. You updated your will to reflect those changes, but forgot about the beneficiary designation on an old retirement account.
That outdated designation could still determine who receives the funds, regardless of what your updated will says.
This is why estate planning involves more than preparing legal documents. It requires looking at how your assets are titled, who you've named as beneficiaries, and whether those decisions work together to accomplish your intentions.
Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one are all important reasons to revisit your beneficiary designations. Even without a major life change, periodic reviews can help identify inconsistencies before they become costly problems for your family.
Your estate plan should work as a whole, not as a collection of disconnected documents and accounts.
Don't assume your will has everything covered.
š Call The Feller Group today at (845) 621-8640 to schedule a consultation and make sure your estate plan and beneficiary designations are working together to protect your legacy.
