Death in Service beneficiary

Sunflower2102

I know I’m a chosen beneficiary as I was always aware of this and the personnel dept confirmed this. It’s now just waiting to see what happens.

Sunflower2102

Sorry I know I’m a nominee on the form I’ve always known this.

Silvertabby

I suspect that if the trustees decide, at their discretion, to make payment to someone other than yourself, then they will just tell you that that have decided, at their discretion, to disregard the expressions form. I doubt they tell you who they have made the payment to, or how much it was.

Marcon

Sunflower2102 wrote: »

I know I’m a chosen beneficiary as I was always aware of this and the personnel dept confirmed this. It’s now just waiting to see what happens.

Reread post 71 and register what it says, not what you are determined to make it say. You still don't grasp the meaning of 'chosen beneficiary' as it is used here. You are only someone who has been named on an expression of wish form; it is for the trustees to decide whether or not payment will be made to you, at which point you would become their 'chosen beneficiary' and be told about any payment.

If you are not a beneficiary chosen by the trustees, you'll hear nothing further.

Marcon

Silvertabby wrote: »

I suspect that if the trustees decide, at their discretion, to make payment to someone other than yourself, then they will just tell you that that have decided, at their discretion, to disregard the expressions form. I doubt they tell you who they have made the payment to, or how much it was.

Correct - they'd have a data protection breach on their hands if they did that.

badger09

Marcon wrote: »

Reread post 71 and register what it says, not what you are determined to make it say. You still don't grasp the meaning of 'chosen beneficiary' as it is used here. You are only someone who has been named on an expression of wish form; it is for the trustees to decide whether or not payment will be made to you, at which point you would become their 'chosen beneficiary' and be told about any payment.

If you are not a beneficiary chosen by the trustees, you'll hear nothing further.

Marcon wrote: »

Correct - they'd have a data protection breach on their hands if they did that.

I'm just curious:o

Are you saying that if the Trustees decide to pay someone other than the Nominated Beneficiary, they have no obligation to inform the Nominated Beneficiary of their decision?

Totally accept your point about data protection, but not even communicate their decision?:cool:

Malthusian

badger09 wrote: »

Are you saying that if the Trustees decide to pay someone other than the Nominated Beneficiary, they have no obligation to inform the Nominated Beneficiary of their decision?

Totally accept your point about data protection, but not even communicate their decision?:cool:

As far as I'm aware there is no obligation. It would however be discourteous in the extreme not to tell a potential beneficiary who is waiting on their decision.

The OP has not said whether they have been in direct contact with the trustees. It is possible that the trustees have been talking to the executor thus far and don't have contact details for the OP beyond their name. The OP is therefore waiting for the executor to tell them, not the trustees.

I agree with Marcon and Silvertabby, if the trustees decide to pay to someone else, they will tell the OP that the death benefits have been paid and they decided not to pay the OP. The OP doesn't need to know any more.

Sunflower2102

there is no will so appointed executor was a family member who has heard nothing. No one has heard anything yet, I am simply looking for any guidance or experience from anyone. Thanks for everyone's comments.

gettingtheresometime

Sunflower2102 wrote: »

there is no will so appointed executor was a family member who has heard nothing. No one has heard anything yet, I am simply looking for any guidance or experience from anyone. Thanks for everyone's comments.

In the case that I know of, the executor was told that there was nothing due.


It was only because I mentioned it to a financial advisor, who very kindly wrote a letter for OH & SIL to sign & sent to the trustees that a DIS payment was made.


OP would it really be so wrong if the Trustees did decide to pay everything to your friend's daughter and nothing to you? I'm not criticising you, for wondering if you'll receive a payment, or your friend for making the decision in the first place, but I'm sensing there's more to this than you're letting on.

Malthusian

Sunflower2102 wrote: »

there is no will so appointed executor was a family member who has heard nothing.

Probably a good idea for them to chase if it's been more than a few weeks. Pension companies are inefficient.

Personally my guidance is that I would assume you'll get nothing and treat anything the trustees do pay you as a bonus. If the relatives try to get the whole lot paid to his child on the grounds that their need is greater than yours, they are on strong ground because it's at the trustees' discretion.

If your friend really wanted you to receive some of his money it would have been better to make a Will. Legacies to friends are much more difficult to contest, as long as the Will also makes sufficient provision for children and dependents. Spilt milk, I know.

Historically, pensions were not your money (notwithstanding reforms in 2014) but money in a trust to provide for your retirement and your spouse's. Provision for someone who wasn't your spouse or even your child was typically non-existent, pensions were designed to die with the pensioner and their widow(er). That changed gradually over time with the introduction of money purchase pensions, personal pensions and finally pension freedoms in 2014. But this is the reason if you want a friend to have some of your money after you're gone, naming them as a pension beneficiary is not the best way to go about it. Pensions have never been designed to allow money to be passed to friends, literally the opposite.