What Happens To Annuities On Death? 
This depends on the type of contract . There are two types of annuity contacts : 1 . Owner driven contracts 2 . Annuitant driven contracts What happens on death depends on which type . For an owner driven contract , when the owner dies the contracts cash surrender value is paid to the named beneficiary -LRB- ies -RRB- of the contract . For annuitant driven contracts , when the annuitant -LRB- not necessarily the owner -RRB- dies the cash surrender value of the contract is paid to the named beneficiary -LRB- ies -RRB- of the contract . Almost all contracts issued today are owner driven contracts . Most annuitant driven contracts found today are older annuity contracts . It is prudent to figure out which kind of contract you have , especially if you have a different owner and annuitant . 