Designation (law)

Designation (from Latin designatio) is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election, for example, is the designated holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's inauguration. Titles typically held by such persons include, amongst others, "President-elect",^[1][2] and "Prime Minister-designate".

In private-law usage, the term "designation" is also used for the appointment of the recipient of property or a property right following the owner's death. This refers to cases where a person designates a beneficiary^[3] in a contract, insurance policy, pension account, or other form of asset disposition. Such a designation determines who receives the relevant property and typically governs the specific asset independently of the general rules for estate distribution. In legal practice, these provisions are used for assets transferred outside the ordinary probate process.^[4] Depending on the document, primary and contingent beneficiaries may be named, as well as different methods for allocating shares among them.^[5][6]