Single childless will

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Query for a colleague please. She is single and childless. She has a flat with life assurance to cover the mortgage and life insurance at work worth about £120k. Flat worth £100k ish. She wants to leave it all to her sibling. Said sibling has a history of financial issues (she thinks gambling is a problem). Sibling also has struggled to keep a job. Nonetheless they are close and it is logical for her to leave her estate to them. Presumably in her will she can appoint trustees and give guidance as to what she would want- suitable property bought outright managed by trustees or similar. However, is the life insurance through work different? We know that there are trustees linked to the life insurance. Would they act in accordance with a will or would she have to write a separate letter to the insurance trustees? Her parents are alive but she would not trust them to protect the money.

[HarshbutfairTess33]

she needs to contact her HR people OR the Payroll people at her work and ask them are there any papers to sign.

[squicketysquack]

Normally she would have to fill in a nomination of beneficiary form stating who she would want to receive the money, and the trustee would take that into account when distributing the money (they cannot be legally bound by her wishes though for tax reasons). It is not part of her estate and therefore not subject to the terms of her will. She could request that the money is held in / paid into a trust but as far as I am aware there is no watertight solution to make sure this actually happens as payment of death benefits is at trustee discretion i.e. they will decide what to do at they time she passes away, based on all the information provided to them. She needs to speak to her employer - usually the HR or pensions department would be where to start.