Spouse Pensions After Death 19 August 2012 at 1:52PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 16 replies 9.9K views

RegWorts

My wife and I are both retired and receiving State Pensions (from our own individual National Insurance Contributions )

I also receive a Private Pension.

If I die first , I know that my wife will receive 50% of my Private Pension but will she be entitled to any allowance or further pension (Widow`s Pension ?) from the State based on my NICs?

Similarly if she dies first , will I be entitled to anything?

We are arranging new wills so want to know what income will be available for the surviving spouse .

Thanks

dzug1

If you are both receiving full state pension - then no, there is nothing extra payable to the survivor on death of one.

If one of you is receiving less than full pension (eg through not having made enough contributions) then there is a possibility in some circumstances for extra pension for the survivor based on the contributions of the other

sleepless_saver

If her income were low enough then she would be entitled to pension credit.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/PensionCredit/index.htm

RegWorts

dzug1 wrote: »

If you are both receiving full state pension - then no, there is nothing extra payable to the survivor on death of one.

If one of you is receiving less than full pension (eg through not having made enough contributions) then there is a possibility in some circumstances for extra pension for the survivor based on the contributions of the other

Thanks for the replies.

Yes...I thought this was going to be the case from what I have already read on the direct.gov.uk website.

It`s just that a friend who was widowed last year who has worked and paid enough NICs for a full State Pension herself says that she is getting an enhancement of around £70 on top of her basic state pension pension since her husband died. Needless to say she was pleasantly surprised and has not queried it.

However I`ve just been reading a bit more on the relevant site

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/Basicstatepension/DG_10026707

and if I understand it correctly it mentions that this enhancement may be due to the husband`s SERPS contributions

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/StatePension/DG_183780

I think I opted out of SERPS because I had a Private Pension option ...but I don`t know about the wife`s contributions.

I`ll have to find out

Thanks


Reg

anmarj

Basic state pension - if you are both getting the full amount then no. But you are correct about the inheritance of the addtional pensions

pollypenny

I know I'll get half of Oh's private pension. Unfortunately, he won't get half of mine -fermale teachers, police officers etc can only pass on 2% pension to dependants up until 1987.

Service since is treated the same for both sexes.

Dunroamin

pollypenny wrote: »

I know I'll get half of Oh's private pension. Unfortunately, he won't get half of mine -fermale teachers, police officers etc can only pass on 2% pension to dependants up until 1987.

Service since is treated the same for both sexes.

We're both in the TPA but it came as a bit of a shock to find that his service pre 1972 didn't count towards family benefits/ spouse's pension; I believe many teachers' widows get caught out this way.

pollypenny

I think it's pre 1987.

Wouldn't swear to it, though. It'll be on the site, no doubt.

I do remember that it was a female police officer, dying of cancer, who was so appalled that her dependants, including children, would get peanuts, that he made her husband promise to fight it. The union went to the European Courts of Justice.

travelgran

I seem to remember back in the seventies (possibly late sixties) an opt -in choice was given so that widowers and widows of teachers could benefit from their late spouses pension (50%) if the spouse so chose. I can't remember whether the amount of pension contributions was greater or what but not everyone made that choice.

Another option available to female teachers was to withdraw their pension contributions when they finished teaching to have a baby. I have several friends who bought a washing machine with their returned contributions never thinking they would return to teaching and are now short of 3 or 4 years on their TP.

Well, it seemed a good idea at the time!

margaretclare

SERPS can be inherited by the surviving spouse, so this may be what you're talking about here: "It`s just that a friend who was widowed last year who has worked and paid enough NICs for a full State Pension herself says that she is getting an enhancement of around £70 on top of her basic state pension pension since her husband died. Needless to say she was pleasantly surprised and has not queried it."

It depends on age. DH and I can inherit 100% of each other's SERPS, depending on which of us survives the other. His SERPS is worth having, as he was never opted-out. Mine is less, but still, it's there and he can inherit it.

yangptangkipperbang

travelgran wrote: »

I seem to remember back in the seventies (possibly late sixties) an opt -in choice was given so that widowers and widows of teachers could benefit from their late spouses pension (50%) if the spouse so chose. I can't remember whether the amount of pension contributions was greater or what but not everyone made that choice.

You are correct there. The armed forces were given a similar choice in 1973 as to whether their widows received a 30% or 50% "widows" pension.
To do this you had to pay extra "contributions" for the rest of your service career - it took a fair bit of working out, depending on how much time you had left to serve as to whether this made financial sense or not.

In my case I didn't bother, it meant that my widow will get 6 years worth at 30% and 16 years at 50% - it wasn't worth me "buying back" those extra six years over the next 16 !