In the following sentence, choose the word that best completes the meaning: My husband has listed me as the __________ of his life insurance policy.

Introduction / Context:
This is a common vocabulary question from everyday financial English. It tests whether you know the specific term used in insurance documents for the person who will receive the payout from a policy when a certain event occurs, such as the death of the insured person.

Given Data / Assumptions:
The sentence says, My husband has listed me as the blank of his life insurance policy. This clearly refers to the official role assigned in the policy, not to general family relationships or inheritance law. The options are successor, beneficiary, heir, and inheritor, all of which relate to receiving something, but in slightly different contexts.

Concept / Approach:
In insurance terminology, the standard word is beneficiary. A beneficiary is the person or entity named to receive the benefits or proceeds of a policy, trust, or will. Successor is a broader term used for someone who takes over a position, office, or title. Heir and inheritor are more strongly associated with inheriting property or titles according to legal rules of succession, not with the specific naming in a policy document.

Step-by-Step Solution:
First, test successor. My husband has listed me as the successor of his life insurance policy sounds wrong, because people succeed to positions, not to policies.Second, test beneficiary. My husband has listed me as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy sounds exactly like standard phrasing used by insurers and financial planners.Third, test heir. My husband has listed me as the heir of his life insurance policy is not standard; heir is usually used for broader inheritance of estate, not for policy documentation.Fourth, test inheritor. This word is rarely used in everyday speech and again fits better with estates than with a specific policy form.Therefore, beneficiary is the only option that precisely matches both legal and everyday usage.

Verification / Alternative check:
Think about how insurance companies phrase their forms and brochures. They ask you to nominate or name a beneficiary, not an heir or successor, when you fill out a life policy application. Legal and financial guides also speak of beneficiary designation for retirement accounts and insurance. This consistent use across real world texts confirms that beneficiary is the expected choice.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Successor is used in sentences like She is the successor to the managing director, not in connection with insurance policies. Heir appears in contexts such as legal heir to the property, which is a broader legal concept and not tied to the wording of a policy. Inheritor is a less common synonym for heir and has the same limitation. Using any of these three in the given sentence would sound odd and out of place to a native speaker.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes ignore domain specific vocabulary and choose a more general synonym for receive or follow. However, exams frequently test whether you know the exact technical word used in particular fields like law, finance, or medicine. When you see a question that clearly belongs to a specialist domain, try to recall the precise term used in that context, rather than relying on a loose synonym.

Final Answer:
The correct word is beneficiary, so the completed sentence is My husband has listed me as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy.