Contesting Life Insurance Beneficiary

My father recently passed away very suddenly. Two months before his death, he seperated from his live in girlfriend, very ugly to say the least, they had been together for 11 yrs. In this time, they bought and paid for a house together, each being listed on the deed. They were never formally married because she receives military death benefits from a prior marriage and she would have to give that up if she remarried. But, they did have a ceremony in Reno, Nv but somehow never filed for a license....don't ask me how that works.... Anyway, my father had a small life insurance policy that named her as the beneficiary. Upon his death, she told me of the insurance and that she wanted my sister and I to have it, but, she is unwilling to send the required letter to the insurance company transferring the benefits to us and is now trying to get me to give her the policy (which I luckily have in my possession) and a death certificate. I feel sure she is going to screw us out of the insurance so I have avoided giving it to her. I'm sure she can work around that, but I'm not going to make it easy on her. Days before my fathers death, he wrote her a letter demanding she sell or refinance the home they shared and give him his rightful share. Luckily my father made a copy of this letter as well as a couple of other letters he had sent her.

My question... What is the likelihood of contesting the life insurance beneficiary? His letter made it clear what their relationship was and he had also told my aunt that he was planning to change the benificiary, but never got to it before his death. I'm also unsure whether or not he had a will. If he did, it was a very old one and locked away in a storage facility that no one but he had access to....

Their seperation was very ugly and I blame her for his death. She locked him out of his own home and away from his COPD medication which caused an infection that eventually lead to his death, very unexpededly.... It's not the money that I'm after, it's the principle that she shouldn't gain from his death...

Thanks for any help...

hi i am soory to hear about ur loss. i am in the same boat u r in right now and trying to look for onfo on the same issues. if u find any info out can u please send it my way as well and i will do the same for u. here is my email address daddyslilgirl121355@yahoo.com. thank you -lyz-

I'm sorry to hear about the loss for all. I'm also in a similar position with family members. I always thought that at least my family could be trusted to be fair. Please any info you could pass along, would be very helpful. Thank you.