Does Life Insurance Go Into Probate? 
Not usually . As long as the policy has a named beneficiary who is alive when the insured dies the proceeds will normally skip the probate process . If there are no living beneficiaries when the insured dies , then the proceeds are paid to the insured 's estate at which time the funds would need to go through the probate process in order to be distributed to heirs . Keep in mind that proceeds paid to a deceased beneficiary could end up in that beneficiary 's estate and would need to go through the probate process in order for that beneficiary 's heirs to receive the proceeds . 