Who owns company stake holder pension?

stboard

Hi all,

I currently have a company stakeholder pension and I thought if I die who actually owns my pension...would it automatically go to my other half? Someone in the family said to me that the company actually owns the pension and it is the company whom decides where it should go in the event of my death?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Steve

mania112

The pension is your now and your wife's when you die.

Linton

As I understand things, strictly speaking the trustees of company schemes decide what happens when you die. They almost always follow your wishes as expressed when you joined the scheme. I assume things work like this because you usually dont own your pension. You are the beneficiary.

So your family member is partially right, but its not the company, its the trustees who are legally independent of the company.

Aegis

stboard wrote: »

Hi all,

I currently have a company stakeholder pension and I thought if I die who actually owns my pension...would it automatically go to my other half? Someone in the family said to me that the company actually owns the pension and it is the company whom decides where it should go in the event of my death?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Steve

Technically the scheme trustees (the legal owners but not the beneficial owners) have to decide who receives the benefit, but it is expected that they will follow your wishes in the majority of cases. As such, you usually fill in an "Expression of Wish" or "Nomination of Beneficiaries" form and submit this to the pension provider (possibly via your HR department).

In the absence of this form, the trustees should identify a surviving spouse and arrange for the money to be made available to her.

GhIFA

The scheme administrators(i.e. the insurance company providing the stakeholder scheme) are the trustees of the scheme. They will, in most circumstances, pay out according to the details provided on any death benefit nomination you have completed. If you have not completed one of these then you should do, but bear in mind that it is not binding on the trustees (although as I say, they will adhere to it in most circumstances).

stboard

Thanks all for the quick responses. Perhaps it would be wise to ask my employer to provide a legally binding document to ensure my wife would be the beneficiary.

GhIFA

It won't have anything to do with your employer. You would have to write the policy in trust.

It is very unlikely that the trustees wouldn't act in accordance with your Death Benefit Nomination if your wife is your only dependant and your circumstances are straightforward (for example, no children from previous relationships etc).

Linton

stboard wrote: »

Thanks all for the quick responses. Perhaps it would be wise to ask my employer to provide a legally binding document to ensure my wife would be the beneficiary.

It's nothing to worry about, in practice it's a legal detail. Even a will isnt guaranteed to be followed: if you leave everything to the dogs home with nothing to your dependents then the will can be overturned. Same sort of thing with your expression of wish. However leaving everything to a wife isnt potentially problematic, unless perhaps if you have more than one.

stboard

Linton wrote: »

However leaving everything to a wife isnt potentially problematic, unless perhaps if you have more than one.

I'm sure I say for every man that one wife is enough :rotfl:

atush

this is a very important thing to think about, if you are not married and have a live in partner (even form many decades). for those to inherit the pension, they would have to be on an expression of wishes form. Otherwise other relatives of yours would get it, and the live in partner nothing.

dunstonh

Someone in the family said to me that the company actually owns the pension and it is the company whom decides where it should go in the event of my death?!

They are partly right. The trustees of the scheme decide. You give them a nomination of beneficiary and as long as it is reasonable, they will not overrule it. Your employer has nothing to do with it.