What if a beneficiary dies before the person insured?
Your contingent beneficiary is next in line to receive your death benefit, otherwise the policy will be paid to the owner’s estate. Policyholders can update their beneficiaries at any time by filling out a form and submitting it to their life insurance company.
You can divide the death benefit “per capita,” i.e. per person. So if one primary beneficiary dies, the proceeds are divided equally among all the survivors of that beneficiary and your other primary beneficiaries. Or, you can choose to divide it ‘per stirpes’ — i.e. by branch of the family — instead. This means that if you outlive one of your primary beneficiaries, their portion of the money will go to their children or grandchildren, and the rest to the other listed primary beneficiaries.