Dear Liza: My Stepmother had a pension, my father was the beneficiary after she died. He made me beneficiary after his death. After he died, I received the pension. Now my stepmother’s sister wants it. She is not a beneficiary. Is she entitled to it? Can she try to fight it?  Your stepmother’s sister, based on what you’ve written here, is not entitled to that pension. If she isn’t the named beneficiary, she’s not entitled to the money. It’s that simple. When an account or a pension has a named beneficiary, that beneficiary is the only person entitled to that asset. Period. Unless your father didn’t have the right to name a beneficiary after his death, or was somehow named improperly by your stepmother, no one else but you would be entitled to the money. In other words, if a beneficiary is improperly designated, then that beneficiary designation itself can be challenged. But otherwise, the account holder’s designation of a beneficiary is the last word.