my mother took out a $50000.00 life insurance policy thru he

after mv father past away several years after he and my mother divorced, the policy my mother had taken out on him thru her former employer refused to pay. there reason was my parents had divorced. although he continued paying the premiums until his death and the beneficiary changed and was no longer my mother. the company refunded only $1000.00 of premium monies and sent it to my mother. was this legal or do i have some kind of recoarse this took place in california in early 2010.