Does Life Insurance Need To Go Through Probate? 
If there is no beneficiary cited on a life insurance policy -LRB- or the beneficiary is the estate -RRB- , the proceeds are paid to the estate . From there , they will go through the probate process if there is no instruction for how the proceeds are to be distributed - when this happens , the courts would decide how the estate is to be distributed . If a beneficiary is designated , then the proceeds would be paid to that person -LRB- s -RRB- / entity rather than going through the probate process . 