death money

My mother was an edgars account holder, she was subscribed to two of their policies the family plan and provider benefit, she passed away on the 21 july 2018, I then went to one of their branches to notify them and claim her insurances I was sent to hollard as they are their insurance serbice provider, this I did on the 24 july 2018 I received an sms that her claim was received on the same day. I didnt get any feedback until I called to follow up on Thursday 26 july 2018, Got no feedback until I went to the hollard branch on the 30 july 2018 where they said theyll get back to me on the same day, got a phone call day telling me that my mother's claims were declined because her account was in arrears, whereas she did make an arrangement with them for a lower instalment when she got retrenched in 2015, she wasnt notified that this would then mean her policies would default this is then justified by "terms and conditions" of a policy signed up for by phone call, my mother has had this account for more than 15years and this is the kind of treatment she receives when she dies. And why wasnt I notified of this within their 48hours but im told this after a week? Is this how our policy monies get taken without any compensation?