If a policyholder's wife is his irrevocable beneficiary and predeceases him, how are his children classified?

In the context of life insurance policies, when a policyholder names an irrevocable beneficiary, such as a spouse, that beneficiary has a permanent interest in the policy and cannot be changed without their consent. If the irrevocable beneficiary— in this case, the policyholder's wife— predeceases the policyholder, the next step is to consider how the children are classified in relation to the death benefit of the policy.

When the primary beneficiary (the wife) is no longer alive, the policy typically stipulates how the proceeds are handled. If the policy has been set up in a way that stipulates the children as beneficiaries (or if they fall under a default provision if no contingent beneficiary has been named), they are then classified based on their relationship to the policyholder.

In this scenario, the children would be regarded as irrevocable secondary beneficiaries because they are next in line to receive the benefits after the primary beneficiary has died. The classification of "irrevocable" indicates that the policyholder does not have the ability to change this designation without the consent of the children, similar to how it was with the spouse. This classification ensures that the children's rights to the proceeds of the policy are secured and cannot be taken away by the policyholder's