Any way I can verify if life policy has been paid out?

Franco50

Not sure if anyone can help with this but its worth a try. My elderly mum died recently and I have been trying to sort out her financial affairs. I found two life assurance policies which I need to claim on to pay the funeral costs. When I contacted the insurers they said that one of the policies had been paid out in 1998 but I could claim on the other one. I found this very strange as it was not like my mother to have cashed in a policy which she knew would be required for her funeral costs as she had no will or other assets. The policy which is supposed to have been paid out is a "whole life assurance policy" and it states "payable on death" which led me to think that it could only be paid out when she died. The insurance company however tell me that these policies can be, and often are, cashed in early.
Not that I am suspecting the insurers of anything but is there any independent body I can ask to determine if this policy actually was paid out in 1998? If it has been surrendered it will be a financial blow as her other policy on its own falls well short of the cost of the funeral.