Pension question re: divorced women

MM2005

Hmmm, just to clarify a few questions (this is about my mother):

1) They had divorced before my father died! She actually called the scheme's office about the situation and got asked exectly the same question!

2) As far as I know nothing was sorted out regarding pension at the time of the divorce (I will double check).

3) I was the executor of the will of my father and was in touch with the local government pension scheme office to stop payments - they offered no payout for the pension (I didn't know there possibly would be - only thought it would go to widows and since there was none). Could I claim again for this? My father died about 18 months back.

Someone mentioned about having her state pension topped up - how would she go about doing this?

CIS

She needs to claim it against her state pension as a divorcee by putting in a change of details.

Contact Pensions Direct on 0845 30 13 011, they'd should be able to help her proceed and they'll pass it on to the NPC conversion section to action as neccessary.

MM2005

CIS wrote:

She needs to claim it against her state pension as a divorcee by putting in a change of details.

Contact Pensions Direct on 0845 30 13 011, they'd should be able to help her proceed and they'll pass it on to the NPC conversion section to action as neccessary.

Hmmm, got her to call the number you gave and they went away to check. Came back and told her the same thing - nothing she can claim now because this should have been done at time of divorce. Anything else she can do?

MM2005

margaretclare wrote:

Hi

There is a death-in-service pay-out for someone who was in the Local Government Pension Scheme at the date of death, but the pay-out would go to the next-of-kin, not to an ex-spouse, who is no longer next-of-kin.

Margaret Clare

He was retired when he died - is there any payment possible for this?

margaretclare

MM2005 wrote:

He was retired when he died - is there any payment possible for this?

I don't know. I suppose it depends on the terms and conditions in the scheme's booklet. I have no knowledge of what happens in the case of a former member of the scheme who dies after retirement. My sole knowledge of this scheme comes from what happened when my daughter died in December 2002. She was just 39 and she'd only recently started working for a Midlands county council (their offices are just by Trent Bridge cricket ground). She joined the pension scheme on day one and there was no qualifying period. Obviously she didn't know she was going to die....So when she died 6 weeks later her widower got 2 years of her final salary and 3 months' tax-free salary. If they'd had children it would have been 6 months.

Margaret Clare

CIS

Was she divorced when she first claimed her pension ?, if thst so did she tick the box to say so on the BR1 cliams form ?

People can become divorced after pension age and claim as a divorcee, even if tehy are already receiving their state pension, in all the yrs I worked with pensions, I never heard a rule that stated you need to claim straight away.

I suggest that the best thing she could do,if she wants try and pursue cliaming, would be to complete a BR1 and send in a divorce certificate to her local pension centre and ask that it be looked at , no offense to Pensions Direct, but they get next to zero training in pensions, and like I say Ive never come across that rule. (I might be wrong,but shes got nothing to lose)

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/br1/br1apr06.pdf

MM2005

margaretclare wrote:

I don't know. I suppose it depends on the terms and conditions in the scheme's booklet. I have no knowledge of what happens in the case of a former member of the scheme who dies after retirement. My sole knowledge of this scheme comes from what happened when my daughter died in December 2002. She was just 39 and she'd only recently started working for a Midlands county council (their offices are just by Trent Bridge cricket ground). She joined the pension scheme on day one and there was no qualifying period. Obviously she didn't know she was going to die....So when she died 6 weeks later her widower got 2 years of her final salary and 3 months' tax-free salary. If they'd had children it would have been 6 months.

Margaret Clare

Thanks Margaret - I don't think this would apply in our situation then. Thanks for clarifying.

MM2005

CIS wrote:

Was she divorced when she first claimed her pension ?, if thst so did she tick the box to say so on the BR1 cliams form ?

People can become divorced after pension age and claim as a divorcee, even if tehy are already receiving their state pension, in all the yrs I worked with pensions, I never heard a rule that stated you need to claim straight away.

I suggest that the best thing she could do,if she wants try and pursue cliaming, would be to complete a BR1 and send in a divorce certificate to her local pension centre and ask that it be looked at , no offense to Pensions Direct, but they get next to zero training in pensions, and like I say Ive never come across that rule. (I might be wrong,but shes got nothing to lose)

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/br1/br1apr06.pdf

She was claiming pension before they divorced, so obviously wouldn't have filled in anything on the original form. Thanks for your advice - as you say, no harm in sending in the forms etc.

CAE

MM2005 wrote:

He was retired when he died - is there any payment possible for this?

How long was he receiving pension for? If he was in receipt of a pension for less than 5 years it is possible that there may be a balance of money due to the estate. This would normally have been brought to the attention of the execdutor at the time however.

As previously stated, there would be no widows benefit payable as your mother was not his widow at the time of his death.

Hope this helps

Debt_Free_Chick

MM2005 wrote:

Hmmm, just to clarify a few questions (this is about my mother):

1) They had divorced before my father died! She actually called the scheme's office about the situation and got asked exectly the same question!

2) As far as I know nothing was sorted out regarding pension at the time of the divorce (I will double check).

If it had been, there would have been one of two solutions. Either
A payment would have been made from dad's pension scheme into a pension in your mum's name. So there would have been two separate pensions and your mum would know if she had one in her name; or

Part of dad's pension would have been paid directly to mum when he retired. Again, she would know if she was getting this.

If neither of the above applied, then there were no "pension" issues as far as the divorce was concerned. She might have got a bigger share of the house (or any other assets) when they divorced, instead of her own pension.

3) I was the executor of the will of my father and was in touch with the local government pension scheme office to stop payments - they offered no payout for the pension (I didn't know there possibly would be - only thought it would go to widows and since there was none). Could I claim again for this? My father died about 18 months back.

OK ... so your parents were divorced when dad died. In this case, nothing would be payable from his scheme. It will only pay a pension, on death, to a spouse or someone else who was financially dependant on him. I assume that dad was not paying any maintenance to mum , f he was, then she is possibly a dependant and could possibly get the equivalent of a "widow's" pension.

Which pension scheme was it? I may be able to find more information about who gets a pension when a member dies, but there would definitely have to be some connection in both parties finances (Inland Revenue Rule).

If all the finances were separated and dealt with the by the divorce, then they are treated as though they were never married (from a financial point of view, anyway). So, from that point on, neither party has any claim on the other party's finances.

Someone mentioned about having her state pension topped up - how would she go about doing this?

As someone mentioned, get a State Pension Forecast by completing form BR1 and take it from there.