Estranged husband has passed away

geewcee

Ok so simply my Sister's estranged husband has passed away, she was informed today by a stranger that sent her a friends request over Facebook. She hasn't had contact with him for the past 6 years nor does she know where he has lived during this time. She hasn't been able to afford to seek divorce due to finances (he left her with several thousands of pounds of unknown debt when he did a runner), but she is now worried the only reason she has been contacted is that she will be legally obliged to pay for his funeral arrangements. Can anyone shine any light on this for me so I can give her a straight answer? She was very upset as times are even harder financially for her at the moment.

Keep_pedalling

No one is legally obliged to pay anyone’s funeral costs. If he has any savings then the funeral can be payed from those, if not and no one else is willing to pay the the LA will pay for  a simple cremation.

If he has not made a will then she would inherit anything left in his estate, but if She is convinced he is penniless then she should simply not get involved.

Silvertabby

If he had any pension rights, then your sister may be entitled to spouse's benefits as they were still legally married at the time of his death.

An annual/monthly pension definitely isn't part of his estate, so your sister could claim that without becoming involved.  Any lump sum may or may not be outside the estate - it depends on the scheme rules and the decision of the trustees.  

Marcon

Silvertabby said:

If he had any pension rights, then your sister may be entitled to spouse's benefits as they were still legally married at the time of his death.

  

Certainly the case if he belonged to a final salary scheme where he was 'contracted out' of the State Additional Pension - any Guaranteed Minimum Pension benefits (that's the bit of the company pension built up lieu of State Additional Pension) must be paid to the spouse, estranged or otherwise. If he belonged to a company scheme  at any time between 1978 and 1997, the question to be asked (whether or not your sister understands the jargon!) is: did he build up a GMP? If the answer is 'yes', then there is definitely some pension coming her way.

Apart from the above, it will depend on the rules of the scheme. Some scheme rules simply say that a spouse's pension will be paid if the member was married at the time he/she died; others will stipulate that no pension would be paid if they were married but judicially separated; others still that no pension would be paid if they were married but not living together as man and wife at the time of death. 

Worth her while checking the pension position very carefully. It may be that not having the money to get a divorce might just have been a good thing financially.