How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at North American

For North American policyholders, estate planning comes down to one critical step: making sure the right beneficiaries are named on every policy. Insurance proceeds bypass probate entirely and go directly to whoever is listed—regardless of what a will says. When estate tax planning or controlled distributions are a factor, a trust can be named as beneficiary instead.

Across 11 product types, North American policies vary in how they transfer at death. The sections below walk through beneficiary designations, trust funding options, and which products support each method.