Death grant wish

Silvertabby

Marcon is right. The trustees only exercise their discretionary powers in grey areas - typically when no lump sum nomination form has been completed, and/or there are contentious claims for the death grant.

They have no powers to disregard hard and fast rules, such as the one stating that both parties must have been free to marry etc to enable payment of a survivor's pension.

Don't worry about not being able to find your step dad's (first) wife - that's not your problem and (hopefully) has no bearing on your mum's entitlement. Essex (and we are talking LGPS here) will search for her. I regret that even if they can't find her - or even if she pre-deceased your step dad - it won't make any difference to your mum if she is still married to someone else.

Just a thought. Assuming that Essex Pensions know that your step dad is still married to someone else, they may defer payment of the lump sum death grant until they have located her and she has submitted her claim. If the (first) wife tries to claim the death grant as well as the pension, then that's when the trustees discretionary powers will come into force. In view of the nomination form listing your mum as beneficiary, and the length of time they were together, it is highly likely that they would eventually award the money to your mum - but this process can and does take time, as a direct 'no' to the legal spouse can (and has) escalated to a Pensions Ombudsman complaint.

Spoken from experience (retired LGPS administrator).

cfar

Thanks for your reply. The pension fund are not aware to my knowledge and we have tried to find her to seek a divorce without luck!