Questions: Wills and Probate Basics

Question 1

Marcus divorces and later remarries. He carefully updates his will to leave all assets to his new wife. However, his 401(k) still lists his ex-wife as the beneficiary. When Marcus dies, who receives the 401(k)?

• A. His new wife, because the updated will supersedes any older beneficiary designations
• B. His estate, to be distributed according to the will's instructions
• C. His ex-wife, because beneficiary designations on retirement accounts legally override the will
• D. His children, if any, because divorce automatically invalidates prior beneficiary designations

Answer: (C)

Beneficiary designations legally override will language — courts consistently enforce designations over contradictory wills. The 401(k) is not a probate asset; it passes by contract directly to the named beneficiary. Marcus's will only controls his probate assets (property held in his name alone with no beneficiary). This is why every major life event — marriage, divorce, births, deaths — should trigger a review of all beneficiary designations. A will without updated designations is an incomplete estate plan.

Question 2

A person dies without a will. How will their assets be distributed?

• A. According to the wishes the deceased expressed verbally to family members
• B. According to the executor's judgment about what the deceased would have wanted
• C. Equally divided among all known relatives regardless of closeness
• D. According to the state's intestacy laws, which assume standard family relationships and distribution preferences

Answer: (D)

Dying intestate (without a will) means the state's legislature — not your family, not your executor — decides who inherits. Intestacy laws are written for generic family structures and frequently produce outcomes the deceased would not have chosen: unmarried partners typically receive nothing, stepchildren may be excluded, and assets may go to estranged relatives rather than close friends. The laws aren't unfair by design; they simply cannot know individual preferences. A will is the only mechanism for expressing those preferences.

Question 3

Having a will in place means your estate bypasses the probate process, keeping the distribution private and avoiding legal fees.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is the most common misconception about wills. A will actually goes through probate — it tells the court your wishes, but the court still supervises the entire process of validating the will, notifying creditors, paying debts, and distributing assets. Probate records are public documents, and the process typically takes months to over a year with associated legal fees. To actually avoid probate, you need different tools: trusts, joint tenancy, and beneficiary designations on financial accounts. A will is not a probate-avoidance mechanism.

Question 4

Retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, life insurance policies, and jointly held property pass directly to survivors and are not controlled by the will.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

These 'non-probate assets' transfer by operation of law or contract, bypassing the will entirely. A 401(k) passes to its named beneficiary by the plan's contract terms. A jointly owned house passes automatically to the surviving owner. Life insurance proceeds go to the policy's beneficiary. The will only governs 'probate assets' — property held solely in the deceased's name with no named beneficiary or automatic transfer mechanism. For many people, non-probate assets represent the majority of their wealth, which is why beneficiary designations matter so much.

Question 5

Why is it insufficient to rely on a will alone to specify how your assets will be distributed? What additional step is essential, and why does it take legal priority over the will?

Model answer: Many assets — retirement accounts, life insurance policies, payable-on-death bank accounts, jointly held property — transfer by beneficiary designation or automatic right of survivorship, bypassing the will entirely. Courts consistently enforce these designations over contradictory will language. This means an outdated beneficiary designation (an ex-spouse, a deceased parent) can transfer significant assets to unintended recipients regardless of what the will says. The essential additional step is reviewing and updating beneficiary designations on all financial accounts after every major life event. A complete estate plan requires both a current will and current beneficiary designations working in concert.

This is the most actionable practical lesson in estate planning. Many people draft a careful will and then neglect their beneficiary designations for decades, not realizing the designations take legal precedence. The rule of thumb: after marriage, divorce, birth of a child, death of a named beneficiary, or significant change in assets, audit every account that has a beneficiary designation. The will and the designations must tell a coherent, consistent story — one without the other is an incomplete plan.