My question is about getting back a lost life insurance policy that i never received

You may be able to recover this money, but to do so you will have to sue either your mother, your uncle, or both.  Besides the obvious family ramifications of doing so, you should also consider whether either of them has the resources to pay you even if you win your suit, and also whether you are likely to get the money as an inheritance if you don't sue. If your mother loaned the money to your uncle, and he never repaid it, you can sue him (I'm assuming that, like New York, the statute of limitations in Florida would be tolled while you were a minor; in that your mother is certainly, and your uncle may be, your fiduciary, the limitations period could be tolled for other reasons as well).  If your mother made an investment, however, which simply never panned out, your uncle may (assuming that he used the $200,000 properly to try to make the movie but was simply unable to do so), would have no obligation to return the money (leaving aside whether, if your mother did something wrong and your uncle knew about it, he could be liable.)  For example, if your mother had bought a  half-interest in a house with a neighbor for investment purposes, and the value of the house declined to where they could not sell it for as much as they paid, your neighbor would have no responsibility to repay any money.  However, if your mother had simply loaned the neighbor the money to buy the house, the neighbor would be obligated to repay the loan whether he/she made money on the house or not. As for your mother, assuming that there were no express restrictions placed by your father on how your mother could use the money (for example, if your father left the money in a trust which could only be used for your education), your mother had the right to use the money.  However, as the trustee of your funds, she was obligated to act prudently and in your best interests.  For example, she could buy blue chip stocks, and would have no liability even if, despite her reasonable belief that the stocks would be successful, they lost money.  However, investing in a movie to be made by an inexperienced filmmaker (as I assume your uncle was), or even lending money to your uncle if  his only source of money to repay the loan was from the success of his movie, may not have been prudent, and she could be liable to you for breach of her fiduciary duty.  If your uncle, who (as a family member) could also be deemed to owe you a fiduciary duty, knew that your mother was not acting properly, and went along with it, he could be liable to you on that basis as well.