What is the meaning of Contingent Beneficiary?

A Contingent Beneficiary is someone as specified by the insurance policy who will receive the benefits of the same if the primary beneficiary is either deceased, cannot be located or simply refuses the inheritance when the proceeds of the insurance are to be paid. A Contingent beneficiary can be a person, organization, estates, charities, trusts etc. However, minor children and pets cannot be regarded as contingent beneficiaries as they don’t have legal status to accept the assigned assets.

Thus, the contingent beneficiary is only entitled to the proceeds of insurance if all the predetermined conditions are met. There can be multiple contingent beneficiaries.