Joint life L&G Endowment Policy

mattymooo

I have a joint life endowment policy with my ex partner who I haven't seen or had contact with since 1998. I have been paying the policy since we split up and I always knew that I might have to give him half the money when the policy matured (it's not a big policy) but I had accepted that.

I recently had the maturity letter as the policy matures in April this year and to my shock and surprise, it says that his half of the policy has been assigned to someone else who I have never heard of ( a female).

I rang L&G who said it had been assigned to this person a couple of years ago for a specific reason, but under DPA couldn't tell me why or who she was.

It would therefore appear that half the policy that I've been paying for the last 25 years is going to be paid out to someone I don't know!

My questions are.... As it was a joint life policy, surely L&G had an obligation to keep me informed of changes to it to it, so at least at the point the assignment took place, I could have made an informed decision as to whether to continue to pay the premiums? Presumably if my ex partner had died during this period, then the death benefit would have paid out to this person rather than me which would be a reason for me to stop the premiums at that point?

Thrugelmir

mattymooo wrote: »

My questions are.... As it was a joint life policy, surely L&G had an obligation to keep me informed of changes to it to it, so at least at the point the assignment took place, I could have made an informed decision as to whether to continue to pay the premiums?

Why? Your ex partner can do with his half of the policy as he wishes. You happily paid the premium knowing half the benefit was his. Even if the policy wasn't assigned he could gift the proceeds.

saverjustice

Put it down to experience and walk away.

magpiecottage

I am not at all sure that you can assign half a policy as it is jointly and severally owned.

I think, too, that if L&G says it will pay part of the proceeds to a third party without your consent, then you would have reasonable grounds both for complaint and to ask for the identity of that person without their pemission under Section 35 of the Data Protection Act - though they do not have to give it.

However, as the policy was never formally assigned to you then unless your ex gives permission, he would seem to be entitled to half the proceeds and could give it to whoever he liked.

So agree with Thrugelmuir that you will probably not get anywhere with it as you ought to have already known that he was entitled to half the proceeds - i.e. you had already made what most people would consider to be an informed decision.

saverjustice

magpiecottage wrote: »

I am not at all sure that you can assign half a policy as it is jointly and severally owned.

I think, too, that if L&G says it will pay part of the proceeds to a third party without your consent, then you would have reasonable grounds both for complaint and to ask for the identity of that person without their pemission under Section 35 of the Data Protection Act - though they do not have to give it.

However, as the policy was never formally assigned to you then unless your ex gives permission, he would seem to be entitled to half the proceeds and could give it to whoever he liked.

So agree with Thrugelmuir that you will probably not get anywhere with it as you ought to have already known that he was entitled to half the proceeds - i.e. you had already made what most people would consider to be an informed decision.

What are you trying to say?

Thrugelmir

magpiecottage wrote: »

I am not at all sure that you can assign half a policy as it is jointly and severally owned.

Could the ex nominate a beneficiary as opposed to making a formal assignment?

As I assume otherwise the proceeds would revert to the other party named on the policy documents (in the event of death).

saverjustice

Funny how L&G were on the stats of one of my websites today..

magpiecottage

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Could the ex nominate a beneficiary as opposed to making a formal assignment?

As I assume otherwise the proceeds would revert to the other party named on the policy documents (in the event of death).

I think the proceeds would revert to the other life assured anyway. That means if the ex died and half was paid to the "assignee", FOS would probably force the insurer to pay the full amount to the OP because they had not consented to the change

On the other hand, if the OP died then the ex would get the lot.