Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Method Of Instructing Proceeds With One Or More Named Beneficiaries”, for Approval (USPTO 20220358610): Patent Application

2022 NOV 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventor Schreiner, Thomas (Westfield, NJ, US), filed on July 22, 2022, was made available online on November 10, 2022.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “After a person passes away, the desires of the deceased, in regards to their belongings, insurance benefits, retirement accounts, savings accounts, etc., often changes over time and is often unknown to those that survive the deceased. This may lead to confusion, arguments, and discontent between those who have survived the deceased as to what should be done with the items, money, etc.

“Even if instructions are left, the instructions may be old, and the deceased’s true intentions at the time of his/her death may be in question. Questions as to the true intent may also lead to further discontent between those that survive the deceased.

“For at least these reasons, a system and method for preparing and periodically updating a means for instructing how named beneficiaries are to use proceeds (e.g., life insurance proceeds, annuities, IRA accounts, etc.) is needed.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “This invention relates to distributing funds to named beneficiaries and, in particular, to methods of instructing how named beneficiaries are to use proceeds.

“A first embodiment of this invention describes a method executed by a computing device for providing one or more recipients with instructions on how to distribute proceeds (e.g., life insurance proceeds) with one or more named beneficiaries. The method includes numerous process steps, such as: receiving, from a user and via a digital application executable on the computing device, identifiable information associated with the user. The identifiable information includes at least a name of the user, an address of the user, an email address of the user, an insurance provider associated with an insurance policy for the user, the insurance policy number for the user, an insurance policy amount for the user, and a recipient of the insurance policy. The method also includes: creating, via the digital application, a user account with the identifiable information.

“Further, the method includes: prompting, via the digital application, the user to provide answers to a questionnaire on how to distribute proceeds to one or more user-selected beneficiaries and to provide intentions via free-form text on how to distribute the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries. Next, the method includes: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, the answers to the questionnaire and the intentions. Then, the method includes: utilizing a textual analytics algorithm of the digital application to: assess the free-form text intentions and convert the free-form text intentions to a common textual format.

“The method may also include generating, via the digital application, a form using the identifiable information associated with the user, the answers to the questionnaire, and the intentions in the common textual format and transmitting the form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“Optionally, the method may include: prompting, via the digital application, the user to provide statements indicating a reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries. Next, the method may include: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, the statements indicating the reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries. Then, the method may include: utilizing the textual analytics algorithm of the digital application to assess the statements and convert the statements to the common textual format. Next, the method may include: updating the form with the statements in the common textual format and transmitting the updated form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“In some examples, the statements indicating the reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries further comprise words of advice or wisdom for the one or more user-selected beneficiaries. In other examples, the form further comprises a statement indicating that the form is not enforceable by law. In some examples, the statements indicating the reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries further comprise one or more intentions of the user as to how the proceeds are to be used.

“In some examples, at least one of the one or more intentions are selected from a group of prewritten intentions, where the intentions may include: “Save this money and use it for my grandchildren’s higher education tuition”; “Use this money to pay off your credit card bills”; “Use this money to pay off your debt”; “Save this money to pay present & future taxes”; “Use this money for a down payment on a new house”; “Use this money to fix the house”; “Use this money to prepay your mortgage”; “Use this money to pay future medical bills”; “Save this money for my grandchildren’s future wedding”; “Create an Emergency Fund”; “Use this money for your retirement”; “Save this money and give it to my grandchildren when they reach certain ages”; “Pay off all your bills and then save the rest”; “Give some of this money to my church or favorite charity”; “Use this money to start a trust for your children”; “Use this money to get a will, power of attorney and a healthcare proxy”; “Use this money to increase your own life insurance”; “Use this money for single premium life insurance policies on your children”; “Use this money and put it into Long Term Care Insurance”; “Use this money to get a Disability Income Policy”; “Use this money and put it into investments for your future”; “Go to your CPA and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Go to your Attorney and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Save this money into FDIC interest accounts”; “Use this money to start the business that you were always dreaming of”; and/or “Use this money to buy the beach/mountain house that you were always dreaming of”. In some examples, the group of prewritten intentions describe how the proceeds are not to be used.

“In other examples, the method may further include: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, a time interval by which the user is to be reminded to update the answers to the questionnaire and incorporating, via the digital application, the time interval into the form. In response to a conclusion of the time interval, the method may further include: transmitting, by the digital application, a notification to the user to update the answers to the questionnaire. In some examples, the notification comprises a textual, audio, and/or graphical notification sent to an email address of the user or the computing device of the user.

“In some examples, the method may further include: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, updated answers to the questionnaire. In this scenario, the digital application may update the form based on the updated answers to the questionnaire and transmit the updated form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries. In some examples, the method may further include: utilizing at least one artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithm of the digital application to provide suggestions to the user regarding additional considerations associated with the intentions.

“A second embodiment of the present invention describes a computing device or an electronic device for providing one or more recipients with instructions on how to distribute proceeds with one or more named beneficiaries. The computing device or the electronic device includes at least a memory configured to store instructions associated with a digital application and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor executes the instructions associated with the digital application.

“The digital application is configured to perform numerous process steps, such as: receive, from a user, identifiable information associated with the user and create a user account with the identifiable information. The digital application is also configured to: prompt the user to provide answers to a questionnaire on how to distribute proceeds to one or more user-selected beneficiaries, prompt the user to provide intentions via free-form text on how to distribute the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries, and receive, from the user, the answers to the questionnaire and the intention. The digital application is further configured to: utilize a textual analytics algorithm of the digital application to: assess the intentions and convert the intentions to a common textual format.

“The digital application is further configured to: utilize at least one artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithm of the digital application to provide suggestions to the user regarding additional considerations associated with the intentions; receive, from the user, an acceptance of the additional considerations associated with the intentions; generate a form using the identifiable information associated with the user, the answers to the questionnaire, the intentions, and the accepted additional considerations associated with the intentions in the common textual format; and transmit the form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method executed by a computing device for providing one or more recipients with instructions on how to distribute proceeds with one or more named beneficiaries, the method comprising: receiving, from a user and via a digital application executable on the computing device, identifiable information associated with the user; creating, via the digital application, a user account with the identifiable information; prompting, via the digital application, the user to provide answers to a questionnaire on how to distribute proceeds to one or more user-selected beneficiaries; prompting, via the digital application, the user to provide intentions via free-form text on how to distribute the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries; receiving, from the user and via the digital application, the answers to the questionnaire and the intentions; utilizing a textual analytics algorithm of the digital application to: assess the intentions; and convert the intentions to a common textual format; generating, via the digital application, a form using the identifiable information associated with the user, the answers to the questionnaire, and the intentions in the common textual format; and transmitting the form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifiable information includes at least a name of the user, an address of the user, an email address of the user, an insurance provider associated with an insurance policy for the user, the insurance policy number for the user, an insurance policy amount for the user, and a recipient of the insurance policy.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prompting, via the digital application, the user to provide statements indicating a reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, the statements indicating the reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries; utilizing the textual analytics algorithm to: assess the statements; and convert the statements to the common textual format; updating the form with the statements in the common textual format; and transmitting the updated form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the statements further comprise words of advice or wisdom for the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the form further comprises a statement indicating that the form is not enforceable by law.

“7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the proceeds are life insurance proceeds.

“8. The method of claim 3, wherein the statements further comprise one or more intentions of the user as to how the proceeds are to be used.

“9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more intentions are selected from a group of prewritten intentions.

“10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein each intention of the group of prewritten intentions are selected from the group consisting of: “Save this money and use it for my grandchildren’s higher education tuition”; “Use this money to pay off your credit card bills”; “Use this money to pay off your debt”; “Save this money to pay present & future taxes”; “Use this money for a down payment on a new house”; “Use this money to fix the house”; “Use this money to prepay your mortgage”; “Use this money to pay future medical bills”; “Save this money for my grandchildren’s future wedding”; “Create an Emergency Fund”; “Use this money for your retirement”; “Save this money and give it to my grandchildren when they reach certain ages”; “Pay off all your bills and then save the rest”; “Give some of this money to my church or favorite charity”; “Use this money to start a trust for your children”; “Use this money to get a will, power of attorney and a healthcare proxy”; “Use this money to increase your own life insurance”; “Use this money for single premium life insurance policies on your children”; “Use this money and put it into Long Term Care Insurance”; “Use this money to get a Disability Income Policy”; “Use this money and put it into investments for your future”; “Go to your CPA and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Go to your Attorney and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Save this money into FDIC interest accounts”; “Use this money to start the business that you were always dreaming of”; and “Use this money to buy the beach/mountain house that you were always dreaming of”.

“11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the group of prewritten intentions describe how the proceeds are not to be used.

“12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the user and via the digital application, a time interval by which the user is to be reminded to update the answers to the questionnaire; and incorporating, via the digital application, the time interval into the form.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: in response to a conclusion of the time interval, transmitting, by the digital application, a notification to the user to update the answers to the questionnaire.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the notification comprises an email notification or an alarm notification sent to the computing device of the user.

“15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving, from the user and via the digital application, updated answers to the questionnaire; updating the form based on the updated answers to the questionnaire; and transmitting the updated form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: utilizing at least one artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithm of the digital application to provide suggestions to the user regarding additional considerations associated with the intentions.

“17. An electronic device for providing one or more recipients with instructions on how to distribute proceeds with one or more named beneficiaries, the electronic device comprising: a memory configured to store instructions associated with a digital application, and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing the instructions associated with the digital application, wherein the digital application is configured to: receive, from a user, identifiable information associated with the user; create a user account with the identifiable information; prompt the user to provide answers to a questionnaire on how to distribute proceeds to one or more user-selected beneficiaries; prompt the user to provide intentions via free-form text on how to distribute the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries; receive, from the user, the answers to the questionnaire and the intentions; utilize a textual analytics algorithm of the digital application to: assess the intentions; and convert the intentions to a common textual format; utilize at least one artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithm of the digital application to provide suggestions to the user regarding additional considerations associated with the intentions; receive, from the user, an acceptance of the additional considerations associated with the intentions; generate a form using the identifiable information associated with the user, the answers to the questionnaire, the intentions, and the accepted additional considerations associated with the intentions in the common textual format; and transmit the form to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries.

“18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the digital application is further configured to: prompt the user to provide statements indicating a reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries, wherein the statements indicating the reasoning behind the distribution of the proceeds to the one or more user-selected beneficiaries further comprise one or more intentions of the user as to how the proceeds are to be used, and wherein at least one of the one or more intentions are selected from a group of prewritten intentions.

“19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein each intention of the group of prewritten intentions are selected from the group consisting of: “Save this money and use it for my grandchildren’s higher education tuition”; “Use this money to pay off your credit card bills”; “Use this money to pay off your debt”; “Save this money to pay present & future taxes”; “Use this money for a down payment on a new house”; “Use this money to fix the house”; “Use this money to prepay your mortgage”; “Use this money to pay future medical bills”; “Save this money for my grandchildren’s future wedding”; “Create an Emergency Fund”; “Use this money for your retirement”; “Save this money and give it to my grandchildren when they reach certain ages”; “Pay off all your bills and then save the rest”; “Give some of this money to my church or favorite charity”; “Use this money to start a trust for your children”; “Use this money to get a will, power of attorney and a healthcare proxy”; “Use this money to increase your own life insurance”; “Use this money for single premium life insurance policies on your children”; “Use this money and put it into Long Term Care Insurance”; “Use this money to get a Disability Income Policy”; “Use this money and put it into investments for your future”; “Go to your CPA and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Go to your Attorney and ask for their professional advice on what to do with this money”; “Save this money into FDIC interest accounts”; “Use this money to start the business that you were always dreaming of”; and “Use this money to buy the beach/mountain house that you were always dreaming of”.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent application, see: Schreiner, Thomas. Method Of Instructing Proceeds With One Or More Named Beneficiaries. Filed July 22, 2022 and posted November 10, 2022.

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