Life insurance often provides widows with their single biggest financial benefit. It can make a huge difference in your immediate and long-term well-being. You do have to be careful and prudent about how you handle and invest your proceeds. Depending on your policy's value it may mean the difference between staying in your home or not, or having to go back to work or not. Life insurance can provide you with some much-needed financial security at such a difficult time.

If your husband held a life insurance policy, most likely you are named as the beneficiary. That means that you will receive the proceeds from the policy. To get the benefits, you'll need to file a claim with the insurance company. You should contact the company to begin the process. You'll need a copy of the death certificate.

Typically you'll have a few options for how you want to receive those benefits:

Lump sum - You receive the entire death benefit in one check. This option allows you to meet your immediate needs and hopefully leaves you with income to invest for the future.

Specific income provision - Using this option, the life insurance company will pay you principal and interest on a predetermined schedule.

Life income option - Under this option, you're guaranteed income for life. The income amount will depend on the policy's death benefit and your age.

Interest income option - Interest income options means that the life insurance company will hold the proceeds of your policy and pay you the interest earned. If you choose this option the policy's death benefit will remain intact and will be paid to a secondary beneficiary upon your death.

There are long-term financial decisions you'll need to make with your benefits, as well as tax implications for the option you choose, so talk to a financial planning professional or tax attorney before making your payout choice and any investment decisions. You'll also want to change the beneficiary named in your personal life insurance policy beneficiary if you had listed your spouse as the surviving beneficiary.