Death benefits scheme question

memory_almost_empty

Hi,

I really hope you can help me or at least offer some advice.

A few weeks ago my brother died while at work,a shock to us all that's for sure,sadly though that's the start of what im sure is going to be a hard and messy time with my siblings over his estate as he left no will and wasn't married or had children.

So before all that (and there's a house involved,etc so no doubt i'll be back for advice in due course) i have a question over his firms "death benefits scheme" that his firm,stagecoach runs.

A couple of weeks after his funeral a letter dropped through the letterbox giving myself and my 2 siblings an equal share of 90,000 and here is where the confusion my part has started.

My brother insists this money must go through probate,stagecoach (and they've been very patient with me)assure me this isnt the case,they have made a "discretionary"payment to the 3 of us and it does not in any way form part of my dead brother's estate.

So the question i ask,for now there will be more of this im sure,who is right? does this money need to be paid over to my brother and sister as they say it needs to be or are stagecoach right by saying this is a payment to me?

I hate to sound for want of abetter word "whiny" but i feel alone on this and i really would hate to go down the legal route no one seems to want to give me an answer so im hoping you good people can offer me advice as i would be very grateful.

securityguy

"My brother insists this money must go through probate,stagecoach (and they've been very patient with me)assure me this isnt the case,they have made a "discretionary"payment to the 3 of us and it does not in any way form part of my dead brother's estate."

Stagecoach are right. Your brother is wrong.

Death in service benefits are payable to whomsoever the trustees of the scheme fancy paying it to. The usual hierarchy is "whoever the deceased nominated", followed by "relatives in roughly the order intestacy would work, but not much beyond spouses, children, siblings and parents" and then "into their estate and let the lawyers sort it out".

They are perfectly entitled to pay the death in service benefit, directly, to whoever they like, provided the scheme rules are followed. The trustees have a lot of discretion. They've paid the money to you. That's the end of the conversation. It's nothing to do with probate, and is paid immediately and finally to the recipients.

Finst

Firstly, very sorry for your loss.

It is possible for such death benefit payments to be structured to be part of the estate, and it is possible for them to not be - it depends on how the scheme is set up.

For an occupational pension scheme, it is more common for the payments to not be part of the estate - the payments are held in trust and the trustees have discretion over who they get paid to (although the person who died will often have left an "expression of wish" stating who the money goes to).

Given Stagecoach, who set up and administer the scheme are telling you this is how the scheme has been set up, I would believe them. The money is yours, and not part of the estate.

Crabapple

This has got to be the first time someone has been on with family members complaining they have got money immediately!!

The posters above, and more importantly Stagecoach, are right. It's not part of the estate for tax or probate purposes.

memory_almost_empty

Many thanks for the answers and kind words it has reassured me seeing other people say the same thing as Stagecoach did.

Many thanks.