Pension question for my terminally ill father.

Feed_wellie

Hello

My father has sadly been diagnosed with terminal cancer & has been given 6-9 months. He is trying to get his affairs in order but is not sure if anything can be done with his pension. He took early retirement in March 2013, he is 63. Although my parents divorced 10 years ago they have remained good friends and ideally he would like her to have it if possible. Could he do this? Could he do this if they were to remarry? Can he cash it in now?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I know it would ease his mind.

Many thanks.

xylophone

If your father were still married, what would have been the pension provision for his widow?

brewerdave

...and was his pension included in the financial split at the point of divorce??

bigadaj

With life expectancy if less than a year he should be able to access the pension straight away. This may well make sense unless his estate is very large and he doesn't need the money now. If he is wealthy then leaving the pension in place and ensuring he nominates his wishes for the pension payout on his death could be advantageous, as it is Paid outside the estate, tax free and not subject to inheritance tax.

Is it a final salary or a defined contribution pension?

Linton

What hasnt been asked is whether he has started taking his pension. If he has any potential payout is restricted to the Ts & Cs of the pension.

Feed_wellie

Thank you everyone so far for your answers. The pension was not included in financial settlement after the divorce, he started taking from it as of March 2013. I believe it's a defined contribution pension. His estate isn't large perhaps in the region of 250k including property & shares. He doesn't need the money now, he's just under the impression that when he passes away his pension won't go to the family.

Linton

If he has started taking a DC pension then there is no pot left to pass to the family. It has been spent.

It is possible that his pension includes a 5 year guarantee period (or even a 10 year guarantee). This means that the pension will continue to be paid for 5 years from when he took he bought the annuity and will go to his estate.

atush

It sounds like your mother has a case against her solicitor if the pension was not taken into acct. It needs/should be if a split is to be fair.

As your father commenced the pension, what did he do with his pot? Did he buy an annuity or is it in DD?

If in DD, he could remarry your mother and she would inherit it.

Feed_wellie

Hi there. Thanks again for your help. When they divorced they agreed that my father would keep his pension and not split it. He has started to take a monthly payment but has not bought an annuity. They are talking of remarrying so it can be transferred to my Mother but didn't want to do anything that was against the law. They didn't know if by getting remarried after my father was diagnosied with his illness it would still be valid.

atush

if it is not an annuity, but a DB pension or a Drawdown one, he could marry her (or anyone) and they would inherit the pension (either 100% in DD if the money was kept within the pension or a % as per the scheme rules for a DB pension).

They may have agreed, but unless she received the proper amt of other assets in lieu, her solicitor was still not acting in her best interests in the case of the pension.