protected rights pension

ellens

HELLO.
MY FATHER RECENTLY DIED SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY AND LEFT HIS AFFAIRS IN DISARAY.
hE HAS BEEN SEPERATED FROM MY MOTHER FOR YEARS AND i WAS THE CLOSEST PERSON TO HIM.
HE HAD A PROTECTED PENSION WHICH HE WANTED TO BE PAID TO ME IN AA LUMP SUM, AND NOT TO MY MOTHER IN A FORM OF PENSION ( SHE WAS ALWAYS AWARE OF THIS AND IS STILL IN AGREEMENT)
HOWEVER WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE LUMP SUM CANNOT BE PAID OUT AS THEY NEVER GOT AROUND TO FORMALISING THE SEPERATION WHICH THEY WERE ABOUT TO BEFORE HE DIED AND THEREFORE THERE IS NO DECREE ABSOLUTE/FINAL ORDER.
PLENTY OF PROOF EXISTS WITH REGARDS TO THEIR SEPERATION (SEPERATE ADDRESSES AND BANK ACCOUNTS SOCIAL SECURITY ETC.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I COULD PUT MY CASE IN WRITING WITH AN ACCOMPANYING LETTER OF VERIFICATION FROM MY MOTHER) TO HAVE THELUMP SUM PAID TO ME.
mY FATHER DID NOT LEAVE A WILL. JUST A SPOKEN AGREEMENT GENERALY AKNOWLEDGED BY ALL INVOLVED.
THANK YOU

dunstonh

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I COULD PUT MY CASE IN WRITING WITH AN ACCOMPANYING LETTER OF VERIFICATION FROM MY MOTHER) TO HAVE THELUMP SUM PAID TO ME.

No. Protected rights have to be paid a certain way and that isnt compatible with the way you want it. It wouldnt matter if there was a will or not.

ellens

Hello, thank you for your reply. however, the letter from the copany states that if my father left no widow, the penson would be paid out in a lump sum???

dunstonh

He has left a widow though as legally he was still married.

glenbois

If your father passed away after 6th April 2006 - I thought the new pension rules allowed the funds built up under protected rights policies to be paid out free of IHT subject to an overall limit from all pension arrangements (limit £1.5m?).

Seems to me taht your father never put in nomination form and they have to use their discretion as to whom to pay the lump sum out (assuming death after 6/4/2006) when making a discretional decision pension providers/trustees have to base their decisions based on the information provided and can their discretion can only be reversed or over ruled if in the court's mind the pension provider/trustees come to a decision that no other set of trustees/pension provider could arrive at. In other words as long as they have thought about the case, weighed up the information and make a decision then their decision is likely to stick and in your case the arguement would be to pay the lump sum out to you having noted your Mum's letter on this matter or they could pay the money to your Mum as the surviving spouse - either of these decisions in my opinion could be arrived at and probably could not be over ruled as either decision in my view is one that a set of trustees/pension providers could arrive at.

I would write to the pension provider with the evidence that you have together with a written letter from your Mum stating that as far as she is concerned this was your father's wish.

If on the other hand if your father died prior to 6th April then the protected rights pension has to be paid out to any surviving spouse - which in law is your mother as they were seperated and not divorced and they have to follow the pension laws applicable prior to 6th April which states they got to pay it to her in the form of a pension.

Hope this helps.