Pension advice for bereavement

m_thomp

Hi all,

My father sadly passed away last week and we're in the process of sorting all his details. One of the things that needs to be addressed is his pension. I'm relatively young, and don't know too much about the finer details of pensions, but I'm assuming that pension payments (he was 73) should revert to my mum, once I inform them of his passing?

Is this the case? And if so, can anyone tell me what the protocol is under these circumstances? I've said I'd sort it out, to save my mum the burden, and don't want to make a complete mess of it through being naive and uninformed.

If anyone could help explain what needs to happen and how, I'll be extremely grateful.

Many thanks,

Mark

Pee

Contact the pension company. Usually, but not always, your father will have chosen when he started taking his pension to have a pension payable to his widow.

They will ask for various information, such as marriage certificates.

Notify them asap though as the widow's pension is usually smaller than the pension your father was receiving.

The pension company are used to dealing with these matters so you shouldn't find it too difficult.

CLAPTON

Sorrry for your loss.

It rather depends upon what type of pension(s) he had and what provision there is for a widows pension.
You need to contact the pension provider asap and send them a death cert.

m_thomp

Thanks guys.

I'll contact them immediately and tell them of the circumstances.

Hopefully it's all plain sailing from there.

Regards,

Mark

EdInvestor

Also get in tougch with the state pension people as your mother's state pension may be due to rise.

https://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

jamesd

m_thomp wrote: »

I'm assuming that pension payments (he was 73) should revert to my mum, once I inform them of his passing?

It'll depend on the pension. If he purchased it himself then she could get anything from nothing to 100% of the current amount, with 50%, 66% or 75% also fairly likely possibilities. The more she gets, the less they would have been receiving until now, so it's one of the trade-offs you make when buying a pension annuity. Life insurance might have been bought instead of her getting ongoing payments from this pension and that could be used to buy her an annuity.

Pension payments can also be in advance or in arrears and there's a chance that some would either have to be paid back (if it turns out she gets nothing) or reduced payments for a while if there was a long time between them finding out about the change. Unlikely in this case because you're acting promptly.