My brothers dad died
So my brothers dad died on father's day. He was the typical bitter ex - 30 years after his divorce with my mom he STILL talked crap about her to my two brothers. Like really? He died pretty suddenly after being sick maybe 2 weeks. And his last days were filled with the same petty drama as always - he didn't want his adult children (33 and 35) telling their mother that he was ill. Which caused them to fight and one told my mom everything while the other remained loyal to dad. The loyal one even wrote a beautiful heartwarming eulogy about how wonderful his dad was.
I don't know what the norm is. In your case, it's probably because your kids are children and you would need the money to take care of them. I'm the sole beneficiary of my DH life insurance because our kids are minors. But like I said in the other post, I plan on giving the kids a good start in life and I would never leave them with nothing.
It is sad. I think I would feel differently if he didn't make 200K a year (he's a public employee so his salary is common knowledge).
And no. His wife, despite being the boys stepmom for 25 years, is giving them nothing.
I'm sorry for your family's loss as well.
I'm not sure what the norm is but if I die, everything goes to DH; since it's OUR money, OUR house, etc and he'll have to take care of OUR bills, and DS). But if he dies, 50% goes to me and the other 50% to SS.....