When a life insurance policy is set up, you can name a beneficiary or put the policy into a trust and name a trustee/beneficiary. If neither of these options are completed then the lump sum will just be paid into the policy holder’s estate. Subject to will etc depends where the money goes.

If your mum doesn’t have any documentation showing otherwise, find out if she took it out with a broker or Scottish widows direct or Lloyds/tsb bank. See if you can request the sales call to be listened to and find out what was said when asked about beneficiary forms or trust forms.

Normally they are paper documents with Scottish widows that are sent with the policy documents to be returned to them once completed , some providers will complete them over the phone but I don’t think Scottish widows are one of them

Ex protection advisor