The loss of a beneficiary can have wildly variable effects, ranging from none at all to invalidating a plan completely, terminating trusts (often leading to taxable events) and sending an estate into intestacy. More commonly, it will end up with some remaining beneficiaries receiving more than intended and others getting less, depending on the distribution standard governing the documents. Since most well-drafted documents will have several beneficiaries lined up, the death of one is often not a total planning catastrophe, and can be sorted out with some minor readjustments to existing terms, but deaths can add up, and after a few, even the most well insulated document can end up looking a little threadbare. Given the potential for carnage, revisiting documents in the wake of a beneficiary’s demise is simply good practice.