Let's start with a hypothetical.

Sean meets a lady; they begin to love each other, then they get married. They never had children.

Then, they get divorced. Though, when they first married, there were life insurance policies put in place, and he made her the beneficiary of old retirement accounts.

When he divorced, he simply forgot to update the policies.

He got married again, was happy for a long while, then he passes away. The ex-wife received money from most of his retirement accounts and as you would imagine the hypothetical new wife was livid.

This happens in real life all of the time and will continue to happen because people especially business owners have a million and 5 things to do, and document updates is usually low on the list, if on it at all.

The ex-spouse getting the money isn't automatic in every case, however, in most instances the designations are upheld, and the current family usually loses something.

Here is what I mean by that:

Supreme Court case Kennedy v Plan Administrator for DuPont decided in 2009. William Kennedy names his wife Liz as the beneficiary of his retirement plan. They divorced in 1994. Their divorce decree waived her rights to certain retirement plans.

But not all of them.

When William died the plan admin paid Liv approximately 400k. His family who represented the estate challenged the payment, however the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the plan admin was to follow the plan documents.

It happened again in 2013. Hillman vs Maretta. William Hillman had named his then wife Judy Maretta as the beneficiary of his federal employee life insurance policy. You know what happened. They got divorced; he remarried and.......he forgot to update the beneficiary designation.

He died and I would naturally assume that his current wife Jacqueline was pissed because she was unable to procure the policy proceeds that his former wife received, which was approximately $125,000. The Supreme Court held that one up too.

You know, these aren't the only instances. Suppose you designated a sibling or another relative as a beneficiary before you got married and had children, and you forget to switch it?

There may be a beneficiary to an account you may not even to speak to. That leaves the people who should benefit from what you left behind in the cold.

Here is the point of it all.

If you have any major life changes like a marriage, divorce, births, deaths or any other significant updates in family circumstances it may be a good idea to check your life insurance policies, retirement accounts, annuities or any other accounts that allow you to name beneficiaries.

It's best that your designations reflect your current wishes.

Setting aside about 20 minutes of your time to verify will be so worth it.

Quote of the day

‘Your body is a scoreboard of your habits, coping mechanisms, fears, avoidance, stress, pleasures, and decisions.

Then your body uniquely and publicly exposes many of the choices you made privately!’

~Mark A. Dulaney ELIMINATING EXCUSES.

First off, I highly recommend reading this. I had the pleasure of meeting with Mark, and if he used the excuse of not being able to afford a professional editor, proofreader, cover designer or someone to lay out the book I wouldn’t have access to this priceless gem.

It took this book to realize the type of gap I was in, and that the main thing that kept me there were the excuses. It really sucks watching your life pass by stuck in between who you are right now, and who you want to be. The excuses keep us in that gap and much don’t get done.

We also know how we want to feel and look and most of the time those are just images in the mind while the way we live doesn’t match. I am into martial arts. In the mornings I do forms and stances. This morning is no exception.

What are you going to do today to take care of the body you are going to need to carry out all of the wonderful intentions you are to fulfill?

Thank you.

I would like to introduce you to someone in my network by the name of Emily Ryon. She specializes in Estate Planning serving clients in all 50 states. She offers free consultations to help people to better understand their options. https://www.emilyryon.com/ Please check her out. We need people that care about the importance of estate planning and to help us navigate that world most effectively. She embodies this.

I appreciate the support, guidance, advice, and experience I have received in these last few months. It truly does take a village to raise our businesses! The more I have been getting out here and meeting people, the more my life is expanding. I am grateful for each and every conversation. Have an awesome day today and thank you for getting this far. ❤️

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