Can Mother claim deceased Fathers pension?

Chopper75

Hello everyone, I'm posting this on behalf of my Mother who is looking for some advice. My Father has unfortunately recently died. He and my Mother separated about 20 years ago. A few years later they were granted a Decree Nisi but for various reasons never followed up to get a decree absolute. My Father has been living with his partner(aged 59) for about 19 years, but obviously they never married. My question is has my Mother(aged 68) any claim to my Father's private/state pension? She has her own small private pension and her own state pension. As I understand it, her state pension is based on the years she was in work i.e. not "claiming" the years she was married to my Father when she was a housewife and Mother and not in work. I would be most grateful for any advice you can offer. Many thanks.

antrobus

If your spouse or civil partner is over State Pension age when you die, they should contact the Pension Service to check what they can claim. They may be able to increase their basic State Pension by using your qualifying years if they don’t already get the full amount.

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/further-information

xylophone

my Father's private/state pension

She will need to contact the administrator of the scheme and put her case.

jamesd

For the private pension the administrator will have to decide. Given the circumstances I expect that they would decide against her if their rules allow them to pay to the partner instead, to your mother if only a spouse can be paid. This is because it is clear that your mother has not been financially dependant upon your father for a long time, unless there have been payments to her from him that haven't been mentioned. There might be something in the rules that allows them not to pay in cases of separation of various degrees.

It's also possible that your father completed an expression of wishes form that specified how he wanted the trustees to decide. It's still at their discretion but they will tend to follow such guidance if they can.

When describing the situation be sure that she does not in any way vary the truth because the trustees will seek information from all parties potentially affected. It's much better to be seen to be honest and helpful than otherwise.

A will does not govern how pension or insurance trustees decide who to pay but it can be useful evidence of what the deceased wanted.

The reason that these payments have trustee discretion is partly tax and partly to allow them to deal with outdated or clearly not properly handled situations.

greenglide

If your mother is not already getting at least 60% of the basic pension already then she can claim on his contributions. However since she was still married she could do this ever since he reached SPa. Since he died she can inherit part of any AP (SERPS / S2P) and GRAD as I believe this always goes to the legal spouse?

She really should have completed the divorce though.

SallyG

Did your father leave a will?