What can widowed MIL have now?

jackyann

I really do hope that she will have enough (and more).
I don't want to comment on her exact entitlements as it is complex, and depends on which years what was paid & by whom, but most women I have known is this situation do get the some sort of state widows' pension.

I did know plenty of married women who opted to pay the full stamp - but in my family the women belonged to organisations like the Townswomens' Guild and made sure they were well informed. I have also written, that at her "Intermediate" school in the 1930s, my mother received basic financial education that stood her (and her daughters!) in good stead all of our lives. I always remember that when I hear about Martin's campaign for financial education.
When I pointed out the "Christmas Club" notice in the butcher's (I had just learned to read) she got me to work out how much we would make if we paid a shilling a week into a savings account instead!
Sorry to go off topic OP - at a difficult time for you - I just think you have highlighted the need for us all to be aware.
I hope that you can grieve knowing that the situation is being resolved. You mil may have made some financial decisions she wishes were different, but I'm sure she made the right decisions in her family life as you are so supportive and caring of her.

jennifernil

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

She told me when she first started back at work she was not able to pay something called superannuation due to the rules at the time, but when the rules changed she did pay and built up 11 years superannuation.

OP, have you looked into whether she has ever received any pension based on these payments?

Possibly something she did not realise she would need to claim?

Cottage_Economy

Hi all.
Thought I'd come back and update everyone on what looks to be the final outcome. I managed to persuade MIL to sit down with me and show me all of her financial paperwork. Although she had kept everything she'd ever been sent it was unsorted and the contents not understood by her.
She has a few bits and pieces if income coming in.She does have a main small occupational pension, plus two other tiny pensions (the latter don't add up to more than about £350 a year).
Her state pension has risen from about £64-ish a week to £153, which again we were suprised about but obviously very pleased for her. And she's got her husband's pension of £200 a month now going in, but I have to check with the pension company that the payments are for the rest of her life rather than a set period of time. Some of the pensions providers do pay across the pension of the deceased, but sometimes only for a set period of time after.
By the time I added everything up, her income is going to be above the £10,660 limit and she will be a tax payer once more.
She will get the council tax reduction of 25%, and she didn't know about the free Tv licence for over-75s.
I'm currently trying to find out about the different categories of state pension, to see if she is eligible for a one-off breavement payment (don't think so but don't yet understand what a category A pension is). She doesn't want me to check as she says she's happy because she has enough to live on and her and FIL had saved enough to cover the funeral, but I'm going to check all the same.She thinks she's being an added burden on government departments by claiming any more...

jem16

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

I'm currently trying to find out about the different categories of state pension, to see if she is eligible for a one-off breavement payment (don't think so but don't yet understand what a category A pension is).

A category A pension is a pension based on your own NI contributions. Category B is a pension based on a spouse's NI record.

I'm afraid your MIL is not entitled to the Bereavement Allowance.

Good to hear about the other pieces of income though. Just make sure her tax code gets sorted out by completing a P161 for HMRC.

Cottage_Economy

About this category A and B pension business, I'm getting myself all confused.
According to what I've found so far on this: "Category A pensions are normally based on your own National Insurance contribution record.Category B pensions are payable only to married women, widows and some widowers and surviving civil partners and are based on their spouse/civil partners contribution record. Civil partners have many of the same state pension rights as spouses."
So does this mean that FIL has a Category A pension and my MIL category B, or was their whole set up before FIL died (ie she got a bit of pension based on his NI contributions) classed as a category B?

jem16

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

Civil partners have many of the same state pension rights as spouses."So does this mean that FIL has a Category A pension and my MIL category B, or was their whole set up before FIL died (ie she got a bit of pension based on his NI contributions) classed as a category B?

FIL had Category A and MIL category B. MIL still has category B.

Cottage_Economy

jem16 wrote: »

A category A pension is a pension based on your own NI contributions. Category B is a pension based on a spouse's NI record.

I'm afraid your MIL is not entitled to the Bereavement Allowance.

Good to hear about the other pieces of income though. Just make sure her tax code gets sorted out by completing a P161 for HMRC.

Sorry jem16 didn't see your post above before I posted.You said Bereavement allowance...did you mean bereavement payment?

jem16

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

Sorry jem16 didn't see your post above before I posted.You said Bereavement allowance...did you mean bereavement payment?

Sorry yes I did mean bereavement payment.

Cottage_Economy

Thanks Jem, that ties up one more loose end for me. We had a letter from the tax office listing everything on there correctly bar FIL's pension which wasn't listed. However we also had a letter from FIL's pension provider confirming the switch to MIL, but it turned up on the same day as the HMRC letter, so we were assuming HMRC hadn't yet had notification from the pension provider. Is it usual for private pension providers to contact HMRC with the details or do we have to do that ourselves?

kidmugsy

About your late FIL's pension: sometime schemes pay full pension to the widow for three months after death, and then the pension falls to the widows' rate - often 50%. You might like to check that.