Pension advice

trotterstrading

Hi,
A pretty simple one I hope. My late husband nominated his estranged daughter to receive his pension in 1997 when he passed. We married in 2005 and he only just passed away this xmas. He has seen his daughter once since I've known him in 17 years. One of his pensions has just got in touch saying that he nominated her before we got married and that she is to receive 100% of the funds. Does our marriage cancel this out or will I lose this money to her because we never updated the paper work?
Any help is appreciated - the pension scheme haven't gave me many answers but have asked for our marriage certificate to investigate.
Thanks

Linton

The marriage doesnt automatically cancel the pension nomination. However the nomination is purely a statement of wishes. The trustees are not obliged to follow it, though they usually do. If you can present a good case as to why it should not be followed you may be successful.

trotterstrading

I guess the only reason they shouldn't follow it is because he has no contact with her and since our marriage would not want to see me go without. I guess that's hard to prove though.

chesky

Pension trustees are normal human beings - I was one myself. And they are capable of changing the expression of wishes if they seem to be no longer relevant. You would seem to have a good case for them to make such a decision.

Malthusian

The fact that he married after the nomination was signed is a pretty strong case for the trustees to not follow the member's suggestion. And a suggestion is all it is - the trustees have complete discretion.

Being estranged from the daughter is less so - not paying someone a visit doesn't in itself mean they'd change their minds about the pension money. (Was there a falling out, or did they just drift apart?) But the combination of the two might persuade them. I don't know whether it would succeed, but it is certainly worth writing to them to say that eight years after he made this nomination he married, you were married for 12 years, he's only seen her once in 17, and you believe he would have wanted you to receive the money.

Did he leave you all of his assets? If so that would back up your claim that he wanted you to be provided for.

Do you or the pension trustees even know how to contact the daughter?

trotterstrading

Thanks for the responses everyone - I will put a letter together outlining the history of my husband as his daughter, I will also include details of our marriage etc is it worth highlighting my financial situation and the debts I have been left with? For instance the car, caravan and other finance we had that was in his name? He had no will so the house that was mine anyway and he moved into when we married stays with me. He also had another pension that has been solely left to me. Should I include all this?

Again thanks for the help and I'll keep you all updated.

p00hsticks

trotterstrading wrote: »

I will also include details of our marriage etc is it worth highlighting my financial situation and the debts I have been left with? For instance the car, caravan and other finance we had that was in his name? He had no will so the house that was mine anyway and he moved into when we married stays with me. He also had another pension that has been solely left to me. Should I include all this?

I'm not sure that the Pensions trustees need to know all that.

You mention debts that you've been left with - if your husband didn't leave enough in his estate to pay for his debts then there is no obligation for you to take them on. Although obviously if you intend to keep the car, caravan etc you will need to come to some arrangement with the finance company .....

Silvertabby

I'm so sorry for your loss.

As for your question, it depends on the pension scheme rules and dates of service/date of marriage, but there may be 2 elements to a pension on death.

One is the one-off lump sum death grant, which may be paid to whoever the pension member nominated. In this case, his daughter.

Spouse's pension benefits, however, can only be paid to a legally married spouse (or partner if the scheme rules permit it).

Can you say which pension scheme it is?

I'm a retired LGPS administrator, and I can say that whilst most death benefit nominations were for the spouse, it was very common for the death grant (if any) to be left to the children on the basis that the spouse would get the widow's/widower's pension benefits for life.

When did your husband retire? In most cases, and certainly in the Public Sector, the death grant is only payable if the member dies within 5 or 10 years of retirement - and as it's on a sliding scale, the closer the 5/10 year point the less the death grant will be. There is no such limit to the payment of spouse's benefits.

Mojisola

trotterstrading wrote: »

My late husband nominated his estranged daughter to receive his pension in 1997 when he passed.

We married in 2005 and he only just passed away this xmas.

Any help is appreciated - the pension scheme haven't gave me many answers but have asked for our marriage certificate to investigate.

trotterstrading wrote: »

I will put a letter together outlining the history of my husband as his daughter, I will also include details of our marriage etc

I don't see that you need to tell the pension scheme any more information that the two bits in bold.

Keep the letter simple and objective - don't go into family disputes and emotional stuff.