The beneficiaries are the entities appointed to receive any benefits from the policy. They can be both legal entities and natural persons.

Beneficiaries can be irrevocable or revocable - and this has a large impact on limitations of the powers of the policy holder.

A distinction is drawn between the beneficiary

• of annuity payments
• in the event of survival at the end of the contract
• in the event of death of the insured person

The beneficiaries of annuity payments are the parties stipulated in the contract to receive the payments.

In the event of death of the insured person, the beneficiaries will have to claim their share of the policy and present the required information to the insurance company. And in the event of survival of the insured person in a fixed-term contract, the beneficiaries are also separately specified.

Revocable beneficiaries are the standard beneficiaries for Swiss annuity contracts. Being a revocable beneficiary means that the policy holder or holders can change the beneficiaries at any time and the beneficiaries have no way of fighting against this choice.

Irrevocable beneficiaries are the exact opposite of revocable beneficiaries. Once chosen, every change to the policy (changing the deferral period, currency, beneficiaries, etc.) must be decided by the policy holder and all irrevocable beneficiaries.

This provides ultimate security and asset protection to all parties. However, it makes a simple change more complicated, since you will have to gather different signatures and all involved persons must have the same opinion.