Can I include a life insurance payout as part of my will in Malta?

Generally, a life insurance policy with a validly named beneficiary typically operates independently of your will under Maltese law, meaning the proceeds are usually paid directly to the named beneficiary according to the policy's own terms upon your death, rather than forming part of the general estate that gets distributed according to your will or the rules of intestate succession, which is actually one of the practical advantages of life insurance as an estate planning tool, since it can provide funds to a beneficiary relatively quickly without needing to wait for the broader estate administration process to conclude. That said, it can still be worth mentioning the existence of the policy within your broader estate planning discussions with your notary or lawyer, not necessarily within the will's operative distributive provisions themselves, but to ensure your overall estate plan is coherent and that your family and executors are aware of the policy's existence and how to make a claim when the time comes, since a policy nobody knows about can sometimes go unclaimed for longer than necessary. If you want the insurance proceeds to actually be treated as part of your general estate for some specific reason, rather than going directly and separately to a named beneficiary, this would need to be structured very specifically and discussed carefully with both your insurer and your lawyer, since it goes against how these policies typically operate by default.