How Does Life Insurance Work If Everyone Dies? 
If you are asking how life insurance would work if all the beneficiaries died before the insured person did , the death benefit would do to the estate of the policy owner . Assuming the owner is the insured , and has no surviving spouse , the life insurance proceeds would then go through probate , with its accompanying fees and taxes . That is why it is important to keep beneficiaries on a life insurance policy up to date , so that they have not all died by the time the death benefit is paid . 