The long answer is that it needs to be treated as any other part of his estate. That means going through probate and if there was no will, intestate laws.

Short answer that is not legal advice and technically not the proper way to handle it- if you have a joint bank account, the bank may allow you to deposit the check even without his signature. It helps if depositing multiple checks at once...If the check is sizable, I do not recommend this.

If your name was on the policy, you can contact the insurance company and ask if they will write the check out to just you.