Which type of beneficiary has the highest claim priority?

The primary beneficiary has the highest claim priority because this individual or entity is first in line to receive the benefits from an insurance policy upon the insured's death or a triggering event. The primary beneficiary designation ensures that these benefits are payable directly to them without any need for the benefits to be routed through other parties, assuming they are alive and able to accept the payout when the claim is made.

In the hierarchy established by most insurance policies, a primary beneficiary will have their claim honored before any contingent or tertiary beneficiaries. A contingent beneficiary is next in line, but only comes into play if the primary beneficiary is unavailable due to death or forfeiture of the benefits. Similarly, a tertiary beneficiary would only receive benefits if both the primary and any contingent beneficiaries cannot. Revocable and irrevocable designations refer to the policyholder's ability to change the beneficiaries, but do not affect their claim priority in the same way that the tiered structure of beneficiary types does.