What happens if someone dies before they touch their pension pot

aparky85

At the age of 30 (31 next month), I'm ashamed to say I don't have a pension plan in place, so will benefit from the whole auto-enrolment thing. However it has made me start to think about the long term future and I have a question.

Lets say I pay into my workplace pension scheme for 20 years, and I drop dead aged 50. What happens to that pot of money? Will it be distributed to the beneficiaries of my will (which I haven't written yet but plan on doing so soon) as part of my estate along with all my other assets? Does it stay locked away until what would have been my 55th birthday? Presumably it's not lost forever?

camelopardis

as you're talking about auto-enrollment, I presume you mean a NEST pension?

The NEST pension FAQ says:
http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/Workplace-FAQs,PDF.pdf



What happens if a worker dies before taking their benefits?
When a worker is enrolled we write to them asking them to let us know who they want to
get their retirement pot if they die before taking their money out of NEST. This could be
their partner, a member of their family, a favourite charity or a combination of people and
organisations. They can tell us in writing or through their online account.
If a worker doesn’t nominate someone then we’ll normally pay it to whoever has been
appointed to look after the worker’s estate. They’ll then be responsible for distributing the
money from the retirement pot in line with the worker’s will or, if they haven’t left a will,
in line with the law

aparky85

Many thanks for that. Much appreciated.