My next best-seller is "How To Avoid Beneficiary Deeds."  Actually, they're useful in some circumstances, where there is only one beneficiary or maybe two.  The first problem is that they are public record, so you're telling the world your estate plan.  The world might not care, but your beneficiary's creditors will be watching for your death.  Second problem is that contingent beneficiaries are difficult to include and describe.  "In equal shares to my four children, but if Adam dies it goes to his wife, and if Bill dies it goes to his three kids, except the one who is in prison."