A common misconception is that your Last Will and Testament controls your beneficiary designations. Let’s look at an example to illustrate. Tom has three children and a life insurance policy that has been in place for decades. The policy was taken out before his third child was born so the beneficiary designation still lists his first two children since his wife predeceased). His Will says everything goes equally among all three children. Upon Tom’s death, the life insurance will pay to the two oldest children who were the designated beneficiaries. Even though Tom’s Will says everything goes equally among all three children, the third child will be excluded.