You can name contingent beneficiaries for both Specific Gifts and the Residuary Estate in the document creation workflow.
Note: On this platform, contingent beneficiaries can be individuals only. We do not currently support naming charities as contingent beneficiaries.
Naming Contingent Beneficiaries of the Residuary Estate
Navigate to the Distributing Assets section and select Residuary Estate from the left-hand navigation.
On the page "How would you like to distribute your estate?", you must select either To my spouse if living, otherwise to custom beneficiaries or To custom beneficiaries to see the option to name contingent beneficiaries.
On the Recipients of your estate page, after you have selected the primary beneficiary click on Redistribute this person's share... within the contact box to see the dropdown menu.
Select Name a contingent beneficiary for this person's share.
Naming Contingent Beneficiaries for Specific Gifts
Navigate to the Distributing Assets section and select Specific Gifts from the left-hand navigation.
Select either asset or cash gift.
Add your Primary Beneficiary.
Click the Contingent Beneficiary box directly below the primary beneficiary.
Select a contact from your list or create a new one.
Not that if a primary beneficiary of a specific gift passes away before you and no contingent is listed, the gift typically "lapses." This means the asset falls into the Residuary Estate and is distributed along with the rest of your general property to your named beneficiaries.
FAQs
Can I name a charity as a contingent beneficiary?
No. Contingent beneficiaries for residuary estate distributions and specific gifts must be individuals — charities cannot be selected as contingent beneficiaries. For residuary distributions, the contingent structure in the workflow is modeled around the per-stirpes and "share passes to" logic that applies to individual heirs, which is why we restrict charities as residuary share contingent beneficiaries.
Can I name two co-contingent beneficiaries for a single person's share?
No. The "Name a contingent beneficiary for this person's share" field accepts only one person. You cannot list two individuals to co-inherit the same share via the same contingent designation.
If you want the two people to inherit equally, the workaround is to set them up as separate primary beneficiaries (each with their own share), and then choose what happens if each one predeceases you (either redistribute their share to the remaining beneficiaries, or name a single contingent beneficiary for that share).