An accident and health policy delivered in Arizona contains no beneficiary designation and no assignment. Under A.R.S. 20-1353, to whom are the policy proceeds payable?

Why B is correct

A.R.S. 20-1353 directs that proceeds be paid according to the beneficiary designation; absent any designation, payment goes to the insured's estate. The insurer should not improvise — the estate is the statutory default channel, and paying outside it without the statute's authority does not discharge the insurer's obligation.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) A.R.S. 20-1353 provides a payment rule for proceeds; it does not send proceeds to an unclaimed property fund or permit the insurer to deny a valid claim for lack of a designation.
• C) The statute supplies the default payee — the estate — so no indefinite custodial holding pending a court determination is required.
• D) First-to-file among relatives is not the rule; the equitable relative payment right applies only when the payee is a minor or incompetent, and the default payee is otherwise the estate.

Memory hook

No beneficiary named? The estate is the default payee.