Divorce was in spring 2011, son passed that fall. I know ex had life insurance policies on all of us prior to divorce. How do I find out if he continued this policy and collected on it after our son's death. I'm not being greedy, he took every thing from us, had not spoken to our son in three years and left our daughter with no way to go to college. IF I can prove he had this I would like to collect our half for her education. I also understand that if he did carry the same policy that we had during our marriage and did not claim them as assets it is contempt of court, is this true?

Whether he was required to declare the policies as assets during the divorce depends on local laws. Since you didn't tell is where you are we can't tell.

Also you may be wrong in thinking you have a share in those policies. Unless you were a beneficiary of the policy or the policy was paid with marital assets, you may not be entitled to anything.

The only way you may be able to find out if a benefit was paid is be getting a subpoena.

Did you have an attorney represent you in the divorce? If not, that's probably why you got so little.