beneficiary-audit

# Beneficiary Audit Skill The most important estate document most people have isn't their will — it's a form they filled out on day two of a job in 2016 and never saw again. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts generally pass by *designation*, outside the will entirely: in the classic disaster, the will says everything to the new spouse, the 401k form still says the ex, and (jurisdiction-varying, but often) **the form wins.** This skill runs the audit: sweep every designation-carrying account, compare paper against intent, and flag the stale ones before they become someone's litigation. ## What This Skill Produces - **The sweep list** — every account type that carries designations, checked or marked unknown - **The comparison table** — what the paperwork says vs. what the person actually intends, per account - **The red-flag list** — ex-spouses, deceased primaries, missing contingents, minors named directly, "estate" as beneficiary — each with why it bites - **The update checklist** — what to change where, and the confirm-in-writing step that closes the loop ## Required Inputs Ask for these if not provided: - **The account inventory** — employer retirement plans (every past employer — the forgotten 401k with the forgotten designation is the classic), IRAs, life insurance (employer group + private), pensions, bank/brokerage POD/TOD registrations, HSAs - **The life since the forms** — marriages, divorces, births, deaths, estrangements — each i...