Primary; Contingent; Secondary Beneficiaries?

I have a question. On a family members life insurance policy she had 3 different beneficiaries listed. She had a PRIMARY BENEFICIARY which was her husband (Who is deceased), CONTINGENT BENEFICIARY which was her 6 grandchildren, and SECONDARY BENEFICIARY which is her 3 kids. Since the Primary is deceased, who would the policy go to? I’ve read different things… I’ve read that it goes to the contingent and other places I’ve read it goes to the secondary.

On the forms she filled out when enrolling in this program, she had the contingents all on the “legal” paperwork with percentages written next to it… ie: 5 of the contingents receive 17% while 1 contingent receives 15%… On the secondary beneficiaries there isn’t any percentages listed at all…

✅ Answers

? Best Answer

Contingent and secondary are synonymous. It would depend on how it’s filled out. If the primary beneficiary(-ies) are deceased then it goes to the contingent/secondary beneficiaries. There is not a THIRD type of beneficiary. You can add “per stirpes” or “per capita” which was probably the intention to get the money to the grandchildren if the children were deceased OR to include both the children and the grandchildren if the husband was deceased.

This would be filed under “Why You Review Your Beneficiary Designations.”