Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Life insurance and responsibility for the funeral are 2 different matters. Life insurance proceeds get get paid to the beneficiary who is named. If your parents were divorced, your father should have updated his beneficiary and made a new will. It may be that dispositions in favor of a former spouse are revoked as pertains to insurance as well as to wills. In that case, the money is paid to the next named beneficiary, if any. Failing that, it is paid to the estate of your father.

The funeral expenses are the responsibility of your father's estate. They should not have been paid absent an agreement to be reimbursed. The people who paid may seek to file a claim with your father's estate. The problem is that if there are no funds in the estate, then they are out the money. The beneficiaries of the life insurance policies are not obligated to pay for any funerals. Can they be persuaded to voluntarily chip in? Otherwise, nothing can be done against them legally.

I hate to blame your father, but if he wanted to make sure his funeral was paid for, he should have obtained a pre-need policy or paid for the funeral in advance so that his heirs would not be burdened with the expense.

My suggestion would be to see if you can get a copy of the insurance policy to see who was named as a contingent beneficiary and see if the funds can be paid nito probate. Ordinarily, I would not recommend this, but as you are concerned that the money will go towards funeral and other expenses rather than a sibling's pocketbook, I do not see any other options.

Sorry I could not be more help. My condolences for your loss.