SIPP Beneficiaries being Challenged

Thrugelmir

tiredandtested1 said:

dunstonh said:

TVAS said:

If you get no joy take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If they rule in your favour the maximum award they can give is £355,000 you would have to take the company to court for the difference. If you accept the Fos amount you cannot claim for the difference thereafter,

As the OP has engaged solicitors, the FOS will not get involved.     It is also unlikely the FOS would get involved unless there is a serious error of judgement going on. That does not seem to be the case here as its between two parties who both have valid claims to be made.

 Yes my sister and I have discussed the wider situation with two different solicitors. We have spent £3k on consultations.

You mention a divorce was going on.  In that scenario, his assets would have been shared.    It is unlikely she would have got everything. He would have come out of it with something and it is unlikely that he would want her to get those assets in the event of his death.     So, if her argument is that she would have got some of his pension, then I would have thought the counter-argument would be that you would have received some of his estate.      The trustees consider the whole scenario and knowing that she is retaining the whole estate despite the divorce proceeding, they may take a different view with the pension.

With the nomination being made not long before death and after divorce proceedings had started, his views are very clear to the trustees.  

ultimately, a solicitor is the best option here and after £3000 of spending, you should have had plenty of specific advice so far. 

Can I ask, are you suggesting solicitors, because you think the trustees will take more notice of the above points, that have all been raised in my previous communications, if they come from a solicitor?

Given you have already sought legal advice what was their opinion. The danger is that no one will benefit bar the solicitors with extremely large fee bills. . 

dunstonh

rjmachin said:

I have learned from this thread that the beneficiaries listed on my pension are not legally binding.

I had not realised this before, and indeed I have just had a look at the form you fill in for my pension that it says at the bottom that this is the case.

Does having a will change this, or is it still at the discretion of the Trustees of the Scheme?

Pensions are not subject to the estate and the Will has no direct impact on the decision.
99% of expressions of wish are followed as intended.   It is unusual scenarios where it may not.    

An expression of wish does not need to be what the form says.  You can add notes to it or give a handwritten explanation giving a range of scenarios. Trustees will take all that into account.

tiredandtested1

Given you have already sought legal advice what was their opinion. The danger is that no one will benefit bar the solicitors with extremely large fee bills. 

The solicitors we spoke with suggested writing to our stepmother, threatening to challenge her receipt of the estate, unless she dropped her claim on the SIPP. They didn’t touch on the SIPP other than this, as it fell outside of the estate. We knew there would be no point trying to bargain with her, as she doesn’t work in a rational and logical fashion. She wouldn’t care if we threatened further litigation and knows she has a good chance of being awarded some of the SIPP. 

Initially, our use of solicitors focused on explaining how his estate would be calculated, they advised me to lodge a caveat, to give us more time to find his Will, which I did. They helped me respond to some contentious issues raised by my stepmother and her solicitor.

My personal experience is that the solicitors we have used have been money grabbing and next to no help. Of course they’re going to suggest we challenge her receipt of the estate as it means more fees for them. Given how low the estate was valued and she has all joint assets in her name, what is to gain, except legal fees? I ended up rewriting one or two of the letters sent over the summer as they were so poorly worded.  

xylophone

It will. But I would rather the rest of his life’s work wasn’t going in her back pocket to fund her champagne lifestyle. 

Which is a perfectly understandable reaction.