Quora Answer: What Happens When the Beneficiaries Predecease the Policy Owner of the Insurance Policy?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “My older sister had my mother and me as beneficiaries of her life insurance.  My mother died several years ago.  I am now the only beneficiary left.  How would it be determined who the beneficiary would be then, if I died before her?”

Should you pass away, and there is no other nominated beneficiary for the policy, the monies will become part of the estate, to be distributed according to the will, or intestate laws, depending.  This is rather straightforward in that sense.  It is always prudent to relook the nomination of policies every few years.  It is part of estate planning, and the entire process should be reviewed every five years or so, and even annually, if you are in the last stages of your life.