Death grant wish

cfar

Evening all,

Recently my Step-Father passed away after a long illness and we took some time to get his finances in order including setting a death grant for my Mum. The death grant (a lump sum) is equal to 3 months final salary, the letter was signed, sent and response received from the pension provider.

It's worth mentioning my Mum and step-father were together for 28 years but both married from previous marriages.

My Mum has recently received the paperwork and it has two seperate letters, one about the death grant and the other about survivors pension. The survivors pension paperwork states that they both "must be free to marry" for my Mum to receive this pension, the death grant does not. My Mum is also full benefeciary of The Will.

The questions I have are;

-Is the death grant payable to anyone? and do you think there is likely to be complications obtaining that. The website states;

"We make the final decision on whom to pay the lump sum to. We will normally pay this to who you have asked us to."

-Do you think my Mum could obtain the survivors pension? The website states;

"Survivor's pensions are payable to your husband/wife or your civil partner or cohabiting partner.

If you would like benefits to be paid to a cohabiting partner they will need to meet certain criteria, as follows:

You and your co-habiting partner were free to marry each other or to enter into a civil partnership, and
You and your co-habiting partner have been living together as if you were husband and wife, or civil partners, and
neither you or your co-habiting partner have been living with someone else as if you were husband and wife or civil partners, and
either your co-habiting partner is financially dependent on you or you are financially interdependent on each other.
All of the above must be met for a continuous period of at least 2 years prior to your death."

Thanks in advance.

elsien

Just to clarify were they both divorced from their previous spouses, or still legally married to them despite cohabiting with each other?

cfar

Sorry, My Mum is still married and my step-father never proceeded with a divorce so does not have a decree-absolute. We couldn't find any evidence of a divorce.

Marcon

From the sound of it, there shouldn't be any issue with your mum receiving the death grant.

The survivor's pension is a different issue entirely - your mum clearly doesn't meet the qualifying conditions, so I'm afraid there is no chance of her receiving the pension unless the scheme rules have some sort of discretion. What you're quoting sounds like a public sector scheme - and they generally have as few discretions as possible, preferring to have hard and fast rules. The only way to be sure is to ask the pension scheme - which scheme is it, by the way? Could you give the link to the website where you're getting this information, please?

xylophone

Sorry, My Mum is still married and my step-father never proceeded with a divorce so does not have a decree-absolute. We couldn't find any evidence of a divorce.

Then neither of them was free to marry.

Silvertabby

Sounds like LGPS or another public sector scheme.

As has been said, the death grant is normally payable to the nominated beneficiary, but the survivor's pension is only paid to a legally married spouse or eligible partner.

As both your mother and step-father were still married to other people at the time of his death, then I'm so sorry but your mother doesn't meet the criteria. You may need to prepare your mum for the possibility that the spouse's pension will be paid to your step father's (first) wife if they were indeed still married.

My sympathies to you both.

cfar

It is .essexpensionfund .co .uk

We tried to trace my Father's first wife with no luck! I am happy that it seems she will receive death grant as for the survivor's pension we will push or that too. It was no longer than 12 year pension so I suspect it won't be massive.

cfar

They do state it is up to their discretion!

Marcon

cfar wrote: »

They do state it is up to their discretion!

Payment of the death grant is at their discretion.

The only discretion in relation to the spouse's pension is whether someone who is not married to the deceased member meets the relevant criteria - and sadly your mum does not, so continuing to push for the pension isn't going to change that, I'm afraid.

cfar

OK!

Did you read that on the website? So you think the death grant should be pretty straight forward and the survivor's pension extremely unlikely?

Marcon

cfar wrote: »

So you think the death grant should be pretty straight forward and the survivor's pension extremely unlikely?

If your stepfather nominated your mum to receive the death grant, it is highly likely that will be completely straightforward.

Your mum doesn't qualify for a survivor's pension. She and your stepfather were not free to marry, and that is one of the requirements to be eligible for such a pension when the parties are not married.