Death Payments from superann schemes

dprovan · 18 September 2005 at 8:34PM

Im not sure if anyone can give me any more advice than I have already received, but to be honest I think I will find it quite therapeutic even putting my thoughts in writing.

My Mother died suddenly over 7 days ago now. So I have had an emotional rollercoaster and a fast learning curve in dealing with everything from funerals, relatives to debts and utilities etc etc...

To cut a very long story short my mother lived for the day and as a result had no life cover for herself or her house. In addition she had a number of loans etc which basically mean her home will have to be sold to pay the money owed on mortgages and other debts.... In addition the money owed is approximately 30-35k more than the house value,,, therefore if her works pension which is with a local council in Scotland is added to her estate as opposed to classed as belonging to her family/next of kin etc then most of it will be swalloed up with money owed.

I have handed everything over to a solictor who said it will depend on the wording wether money is seen as ours (my brother than me) or seen as my mothers (therefore part of estate). In addition he said the pensions trustees would ultimately decide who should get the money the estate (money owed) or family (us)!!

I have since learned that my Mum believed debts died with her !!!! not sure why, and whilst part of me feels it is only right that the money she owes is paid off part of me also feels,,, well she had planned (loosely) for this to be left for us.. The pension death payment is approx 50k.

Has anyone any experience of this or went through anything similar or any advice they could offer re the whole situation...

thank you..

dunstonh · 19 September 2005 at 12:29AM

She is right that debts die with her. At least to a point. Its her assets minus her debts. If there is a shortfall, then the assets are sold and the debt gets written off. They cannot come after family members.

The pension is a trust and the benefits are paid outside of the estate to the beneficiaries. Therefore the benefits shouldnt be clawed back into the estate to pay bills. Its certainly that case with personal schemes and cannot think of any reason why it would be different with occupational schemes. However, one of the regulars who specialises in occupational pensions can answer that one for sure.

DaisyNelson · 19 September 2005 at 12:33AM

Can't really offer any advice, but very sorry to hear your news. Hope you are coping. I'm sure you'll get good advice on here from other posters and that might make things a little easier to deal with.

Pal · 19 September 2005 at 8:47AM

Agree with Dunston. The occupational scheme death benefit should not count as your mothers, and so should be paid to her dependants. But it does depend on the scheme wording.

Ask the Trustees.

Johnhowell · 19 September 2005 at 9:16PM

dprovan,

Went through this with my step father. He had over 30k debt - unknown to my mother and us.

Nearly all this debt was written off by the various companies except a local family ran shop that Mum wanted to pay - only £350. Another company did phone up stating to be included in list of creditors on the estate but when told the estate only had £325 in it, they disappeared. Fortunately the home was in my Mums name as she had it before marrying.

Mum got the 4 times salary from the pension fund on her own right - "Never had so much money"

Check whether your mum filled out a nomination form with the pensions dept - stating her wishes for distribution of the lump sum.

dprovan · 20 September 2005 at 3:30PM

thanks for all the replys again, my understanding was my mum put my brother as next of kin, not sure if she did the same for nominee....

Any other views?

cheers again

dunstonh · 20 September 2005 at 4:44PM

nominations are only an expression of wish. The pension trustees are the ones that make the final decision.

Death Payments from superann schemes

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