Who owns company stake holder pension?

stboard

Thanks as well for this atush and dunstonh.

jamesd

stboard wrote: »

Perhaps it would be wise to ask my employer to provide a legally binding document to ensure my wife would be the beneficiary.

You can't do that. Nothing you can do can bind the trustees. They have discretion and can use it whatever you do.

The trustees will follow the nomination instructions you gave them unless your circumstances change really substantially after you gave those instructions. Say if you divorce from a marriage with two children and have two children in a subsequent marriage and your initial instructions refer to the money going to"my wife and children". Then the trustees have to work out what you really want to happen now because wife and children is ambiguous. Children could cover all four children but who's the wife, the initial one, the current one of both? What happens if you have an illegitimate child from before, during or after the initial marriage and a paternity test proves you're the father, is that child one of the your children you meant?

If you're getting a solicitor to help with a will you might also find it useful to have the solicitor help with the death benefits nomination.