Pension and will - potential issue
Discussion
Any legal types have a brief thought on the following;
My mother's partner died recently, there is a will and he left everything to my mum.
However, he never changed the beneficiary of his pension.
He had a fairly acrimonious divorce 10+ years ago and has been with my mum ever since and clearly would have wanted my mum to have this pension to enable her to remain in the property they bought and spent the best part of 7 years renovating.
There's clear intention he wanted her to have the pension given the time lapse and the nature of the will (which mirrors my mothers) but is this pension going to the ex-wife and nothing going to change?
I'm not sure how it works, because the pension isn't in the will, so not exactly something that can be contested.
She's spent the last 2 years looking after him through his illness too, so the thought of her losing the house because she can't afford to live there is upsetting her a little, although we'll do our best to help out. (AFAIK it's worth about £400 a month - which does't sound a lot, but is the difference between her affording the bills and not)
Just a brief note on what happens here would be helpful...I have a feeling I know she won't get this.
Thanks
My mother's partner died recently, there is a will and he left everything to my mum.
However, he never changed the beneficiary of his pension.
He had a fairly acrimonious divorce 10+ years ago and has been with my mum ever since and clearly would have wanted my mum to have this pension to enable her to remain in the property they bought and spent the best part of 7 years renovating.
There's clear intention he wanted her to have the pension given the time lapse and the nature of the will (which mirrors my mothers) but is this pension going to the ex-wife and nothing going to change?
I'm not sure how it works, because the pension isn't in the will, so not exactly something that can be contested.
She's spent the last 2 years looking after him through his illness too, so the thought of her losing the house because she can't afford to live there is upsetting her a little, although we'll do our best to help out. (AFAIK it's worth about £400 a month - which does't sound a lot, but is the difference between her affording the bills and not)
Just a brief note on what happens here would be helpful...I have a feeling I know she won't get this.
Thanks
Pension nominations are not normally legally binding on trustees. They still need to make investigations regarding potential beneficiaries.
However, that's for a lump sum. You mention £400 pm.
Was the deceased retired?
If so, is the £400 from an annuity or paid directly by the pension scheme?
Usually pensions on death are paid only to spouses, although some pension schemes include dependents.
However, that's for a lump sum. You mention £400 pm.
Was the deceased retired?
If so, is the £400 from an annuity or paid directly by the pension scheme?
Usually pensions on death are paid only to spouses, although some pension schemes include dependents.
OP,
Please can you provide more specific information:
I suspect your enquiry relates to the surviving widow's/partner's pension. Whether or not such pension is paid to the widow or the partner will depend on the rules that govern the pension plan. These days a lot of plans provide for the pension payable to a survivor to be paid to the partner at the time of death. However, there are some plans where the benefit is paid to the wife/partner at the time of retirement which is a problem if things change thereafter. So it depends on the rules of the particular plan.
You can always get free impartial assistance from The Pensions Advisory Service. Their address and phone number can be Goggled.
R.
Please can you provide more specific information:
- Was he retired? It seems so
- What type of arrangement was his pension being paid from? Was it a company pension plan or a personal pension?
I suspect your enquiry relates to the surviving widow's/partner's pension. Whether or not such pension is paid to the widow or the partner will depend on the rules that govern the pension plan. These days a lot of plans provide for the pension payable to a survivor to be paid to the partner at the time of death. However, there are some plans where the benefit is paid to the wife/partner at the time of retirement which is a problem if things change thereafter. So it depends on the rules of the particular plan.
You can always get free impartial assistance from The Pensions Advisory Service. Their address and phone number can be Goggled.
R.
I've just been through this for a family member,, it's a degree of hassle that you don't need at A sad time. as has been said it's dependant on plan rules so firstly you need to understand if a dependants pension is payable under the rules, ( that's the term used alongside spouse or civil partner ) the beneficiary nomination is not relevant as has been said ( lump sum) except that it shows intent from the pensioner.
If you have a claim on a dependants pension, then you will need to show financial dependance of your mother to the deceased. Copies of bank statements, bills , proof of cohabitation over time, etc will be required, financial dependency is what you will need to prove. It sounds in this case that you should be able to produce these to prove to the trustees that a survivors pension should be paid. The trust will provide you with a form and the list of info they would like to see.
The scheme rules will dictate how much that would be. At the end of the day the trustees should try to honour the deceased wishes, but can only act within the rules of the plan. I would recommend the pensions advisory service if you have more questions.
If you have a claim on a dependants pension, then you will need to show financial dependance of your mother to the deceased. Copies of bank statements, bills , proof of cohabitation over time, etc will be required, financial dependency is what you will need to prove. It sounds in this case that you should be able to produce these to prove to the trustees that a survivors pension should be paid. The trust will provide you with a form and the list of info they would like to see.
The scheme rules will dictate how much that would be. At the end of the day the trustees should try to honour the deceased wishes, but can only act within the rules of the plan. I would recommend the pensions advisory service if you have more questions.
Let's be clear before there's more confusion.
On death there are two POTENTIAL benefits. The first is a lump sum, the second is an income benefit to survivors that will include widow, partner, children. Everything will be dependent on the rules of the pension plan.
Death lump sum
As for the lump sum, as the person in this case was retired, the only lump sum will arise if there is a guarantee period for the pension payments, usually 5 years. If death occurs within the 5 years, the balance of payments due for the remainder of the 5 years will be paid as a lump sum. Now, nearly all company plans will organise payment via a discretionary trust which is part of the plan. This has two advantages: payment can be made reasonably quickly and inheritance tax is avoided. The member nominates who he/she would like to receive the death benefits by completing a nomination form. On death the trustees of the plan get a copy of the nomination form and a list of all potential beneficiaries. They then decide how the lump sum is to be distributed. Note that the nomination completed by the member is not legally binding on the trustees: if it was, then the two aforementioned advantages will fail. The trustees therefore have complete discretion as to who will receive the lump sum among the listed beneficiaries according to the rules of the plan, and in what shares. The trustees should take note of the deceased person's circumstances at the time of death NOT at the time the nomination was completed, because of changes in circumstances. Unfortunately, many people do not complete a new nomination form when their circumstances change which can make things difficult for the trustees: do they go along with the old nomination form or do they pay regard to the current circumstances? They should do the latter but sometimes they don't. In the case raised by the OP it looks as if there is an old nomination and the trustees should consider the latest circumstances. Note that there are past decisions made by trustees that have been contested. Very rarely has the decision been overturned simply because it's a discretionary decision that has to be made by the trustees and as long as it can be shown they have gathered ALL the relevant information as to potential beneficiaries etc. and made a decision based on that information, it is difficult to mount a challenge to the decision.
Survivors' pensions
Many company plans provide for survivors' pensions. This includes widows, widowers, partners, children. It is not possible to say what happens in a particular company plan without referring to the rules. Many plans provide for a widow's/ widower's pension; there is no financial dependency test for these pensions. Not all provide a pension to a surviving partner and if they do it's often the case that past financial dependency is a requirement. Many plans provide a pension for surviving children, usually up to the age of 18 or when full time education ends.
So...
What's paid, to whom, and how, depends on the rules of the plan, in this case the relevant Shell sponsored pension arrangement. The OP should be able to get full information from the administrators of the Shell plan and he should make sure they are aware of all the relevant facts and potential beneficiaries. If the OP is not content with the eventual decisions of the trustees he should seek the help of The Pensions Advisory Service which I mentioned in my earlier post.
R.
On death there are two POTENTIAL benefits. The first is a lump sum, the second is an income benefit to survivors that will include widow, partner, children. Everything will be dependent on the rules of the pension plan.
Death lump sum
As for the lump sum, as the person in this case was retired, the only lump sum will arise if there is a guarantee period for the pension payments, usually 5 years. If death occurs within the 5 years, the balance of payments due for the remainder of the 5 years will be paid as a lump sum. Now, nearly all company plans will organise payment via a discretionary trust which is part of the plan. This has two advantages: payment can be made reasonably quickly and inheritance tax is avoided. The member nominates who he/she would like to receive the death benefits by completing a nomination form. On death the trustees of the plan get a copy of the nomination form and a list of all potential beneficiaries. They then decide how the lump sum is to be distributed. Note that the nomination completed by the member is not legally binding on the trustees: if it was, then the two aforementioned advantages will fail. The trustees therefore have complete discretion as to who will receive the lump sum among the listed beneficiaries according to the rules of the plan, and in what shares. The trustees should take note of the deceased person's circumstances at the time of death NOT at the time the nomination was completed, because of changes in circumstances. Unfortunately, many people do not complete a new nomination form when their circumstances change which can make things difficult for the trustees: do they go along with the old nomination form or do they pay regard to the current circumstances? They should do the latter but sometimes they don't. In the case raised by the OP it looks as if there is an old nomination and the trustees should consider the latest circumstances. Note that there are past decisions made by trustees that have been contested. Very rarely has the decision been overturned simply because it's a discretionary decision that has to be made by the trustees and as long as it can be shown they have gathered ALL the relevant information as to potential beneficiaries etc. and made a decision based on that information, it is difficult to mount a challenge to the decision.
Survivors' pensions
Many company plans provide for survivors' pensions. This includes widows, widowers, partners, children. It is not possible to say what happens in a particular company plan without referring to the rules. Many plans provide for a widow's/ widower's pension; there is no financial dependency test for these pensions. Not all provide a pension to a surviving partner and if they do it's often the case that past financial dependency is a requirement. Many plans provide a pension for surviving children, usually up to the age of 18 or when full time education ends.
So...
What's paid, to whom, and how, depends on the rules of the plan, in this case the relevant Shell sponsored pension arrangement. The OP should be able to get full information from the administrators of the Shell plan and he should make sure they are aware of all the relevant facts and potential beneficiaries. If the OP is not content with the eventual decisions of the trustees he should seek the help of The Pensions Advisory Service which I mentioned in my earlier post.
R.
Op it's always worth googling the name of the pension fund as many have external sites for reference, this may help you, it implied an adult dependant can make a claim for the ongoing dependants pension, It seems they have a process that is supposed to have been completed but this page may give you more data,
http://pensions.shell.co.uk/scpf/shell-pensioner/w...
http://pensions.shell.co.uk/scpf/shell-pensioner/w...
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