Deceased Daughter's Pension Fund

dennohue

Shortly after my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer she and her husband agreed to separate on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour. They made a verbal agreement that they would both disclaim their rights to the other’s pension, which were with the same company.

My daughter advised family members that she had signed her husband’s paperwork, whilst waiting for hers to arrive, which it did shortly afterwards. (This would have made her new partner the beneficiary). However, by this time my daughters health had declined and her husband keep finding reasons why he was not available to sign. Sadly, she passed away before she was able to persuade him to do so.

All of the above she had confirmed to the IFA acting as her pension servicing agent.

Her husband is now claiming that there was no verbal agreement, and his solicitor is threatening my son, who is the second Trustee, with court action if he does not immediately sign to release the funds. I believe that the issue revolves around the date on which my daughter’s name was removed from her husband’s pension documents, which would go some way to confirming that there was a verbal agreement in place, but under privacy laws I cannot obtain this information.

Sadly, this is a rather complex scenario. Is anyone able to advise?

Fire_Fox

Sorry to read of your loss, it really sounds like you need legal advice and to report the threats to the police.

chesky369

Your local citizen's advice should be able to give you the name of a solicitor local to you who specialises in wills and probate who, though not precisely the same, should be able to deal with this sort of issue.