Beneficiary designation conflicts silently override wills

Life insurance policies, 401(k)s, IRAs, and bank accounts with payable-on-death designations transfer directly to the named beneficiary, completely bypassing the will and probate. Most people don't realize these designations exist as separate legal instruments that override everything else. A person may update their will to leave everything to their new spouse, but if they never changed the beneficiary on their 401(k) from their ex-spouse, the ex-spouse gets the retirement account regardless of what the will says. So what? The assets that actually matter most (retirement accounts, life insurance) often represent 60-80% of a person's wealth but are distributed according to a form they filled out at HR onboarding 20 years ago, not according to their carefully drafted will. So what? The intended beneficiary gets nothing from the largest assets while the unintended beneficiary receives a windfall, and there is no legal recourse because beneficiary designations are contractual, not testamentary. So what? People spend thousands on estate planning attorneys who draft wills that are functionally irrelevant for most of their wealth. This persists because the legal system treats these designations as contracts between the account holder and the financial institution, completely separate from estate law. No attorney, financial advisor, or HR department systematically audits all beneficiary designations as part of estate planning.