wife claiming husbands full pension

carrie_james

Hi

I tried to search previous posts for this but couldn't find anything- sorry.

My mum told me (and she know everything) that a wife can 'apply' to get full benefits of her husbands pension, but needs to apply. Please will someone confirm this and how to go about it.

Thanks Carrie

margaretclare

AFAIK if a man retires at 65 he gets 100% of his pension and his wife gets 60% of it, so as a couple living together they get 160% between them. That's assuming that the wife doesn't get state pension in her own right i.e. from her own contributions.

If a couple divorce then (I believe) the ex-wife can claim state pension against her former husband's contributions. I think this may be 100%. Others are more knowledgeable.

It would always be worth contacting the Pensions Service via their website: https://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk - they have FAQs and a lot of information on that site.

HTH

Margaret Clare

CIS

A wife can only receive an increase on her pension, to a maximum of 60% of her husbands basic state pension.

A divorcee or widow can have their pension topped up to 100% (in most cases) by using their late/ex husbands NI record to beenefit their own.

In all cases of a top up , it depends on the NI records of the two individuals involved.

A married womans increase needs to be applied for, a divorcees/widows increase is applied automtaically (As long as the NI record holds the date of divorce/death). In all cases the increase can be opted out of only by the applicant, never the current/ex spouse.


The married womans increase can be applied for only once the husband and wife are both state pension age.

carrie_james

Thanks very much for all your advice.

With regards to applying then - how does one go about this - is it to the pension firm(s) or a general form from the government?

Carrie

CIS

You need to claim using a form BR1, found here
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/resourcecentre/br1/home.asp