The owner is the person who has control of the policy during the insured's lifetime. They have the power, if they want, to surrender the policy, to sell the policy, to gift the policy, to change the policy death benefit beneficiary.

Once you name an irrevocable beneficiary on your policy, you can't change the beneficiary without their consent.

The beneficiary can be either revocable or irrevocable. A revocable beneficiary can be changed at any time. Once named, an irrevocable beneficiary cannot be changed without his or her consent.

How to change the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. You can change the beneficiaries of your life insurance by contacting your insurance company. You'll need to submit a change of beneficiary form online, on paper, or over the phone.

TOD Features With a traditional brokerage account, the owner's assets go to the estate upon his or her death, and distribution is delayed until the probate process has been completed. By contrast, funds held in TOD accounts are considered nonprobate assets and pass straight to the designated beneficiaries.

TD Ameritrade will only establish or change a Beneficiary of a TOD Account upon the written request of the Account Owner or upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Account Owner may make a change of designation of Beneficiary(ies) by completing a new TOD Beneficiary Designation Form.

Change a beneficiary Generally, you can review and update your beneficiary designations by contacting the company or organization that provides your insurance or retirement plan. You can sometimes do this online. Otherwise, you'll have to complete, sign, and mail a paper form.