When Is Life Insurance Paid Out? 
When an insured dies , the beneficiary making the claim on the policy will need to send in a completed claim form and a copy of the death certificate -LRB- some carriers may have an additional form - varies by carrier -RRB- . Once these items are received by the carrier , they will pay out the claim to the beneficiary . So , in short , it just depends on how long it takes the beneficiary to make the claim and send in the necessary paperwork . From there , I would expect it to take the carrier a couple of weeks for them to process everything and send the proceeds to the beneficiary . 