My parents divorced twenty years ago after 35 years of marriage. Both remarried. My dad recently passed, and my mom is the named beneficiary on a 20 year term life insurance policy on my dad that was paid in full in 1971 by my grandfather. Illinois adopted “automatic revocation” in 2019, but several lawyers I spoke with said the law isn’t clear as to if it pertains to divorces in the past or those forward of 2019. They seem to think that no judge would challenge a beneficiary that was named 50+ years ago. The insurance company is asking my mom to submit the death certificate (which we have) and the claim paperwork, but my mom doesn’t want to pursue this if she won’t remain the beneficiary. If the insurance company decides my mom should no longer be the beneficiary, would she be notified? Would it then go to the estate/ surviving current spouse? Would my mom need to release it to the new wife? Any insight on this would be much appreciated.