What is standard practice after someone dies and a minor was their beneficiary? (NY, term life)

I know this is not a recommended approach, but here we are. I have a family member who unexpectedly passed in the last year. He left half of his term life insurance policy proceeds directly to his minor child. The other half was left to another family member, who just received a check for half (plus interest), so we know the claim is approved.

The family is not on great terms with the child’s mother. The child is under 10 years old.

Both the beneficiary and the deceased are located in NY state. He died intestate with the child being his sole heir, so getting information from the insurance company has been difficult. (I have a pending administration proceeding to be voluntary admin, and I am also proactively applying for property guardianship, but NY surrogates court is…. Slow.)

Appreciate anyone’s input on what standard practice is here. We just want to know what the insurance company would do typically—notify the mother? Ask her to apply for guardianship? Just send the money to NY state in trust? Etc.

We have an estate lawyer for legal advice, but I am looking for more crowd sourced answers to understand the normal business practices on the insurance company’s side just to better understand what happens next.

Thank you in advance!

submitted by /u/octopus_fin
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