Nominated person on private penssion

TVAS

This highlights the need to get married/civil partner.

Firstly you are next of kin and therefore have control over the funeral etc.

You will also lose out on any state pension.

You went to solicitors first (expensive) you did not complain to Scottish Widows and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

I also find this strange. 

Did they have a current address for you and late partner?

Were you reliant on his income? Can you be treated as a financial dependant?

What has happened to the two houses you have jointly owned? If it was joint tenancy you now won all of both. If tenancy in common you only own your share.

Marcon

dunstonh said:

l have a letter from SW showing clearly that l was the nominated person. My partner made a will leaving his estate to his sister

that creates the potential for conflict and challenge.   Ideally, in that scenario, I would have encouraged a paragraph of explanation to the expression of wish.

It does introduce the question as to why SW did not communicate with you in respect of the challenge.

My solicitor sent form to Financial Services Ombudsman but they would not investigate without a legal representative of my late partner.

That was the wrong thing to do.   You cannot go straight to complaint with the FOS.  You have to use the complaints process at SW first.   And the FOS can only deal with the legal representative in complaints they handle.   This needed either a direct to SW approach or a legal approach.

Not one for FOS - this is Pensions Ombudsman territory and OP can go direct to TPAS/on to the PO if necessary.

Marcon

TVAS said:

This highlights the need to get married/civil partner.

Firstly you are next of kin and therefore have control over the funeral etc.

There is no legal definition of 'next of kin' under UK law. This case highlights the need to ensure that wills, Expression of Wish forms etc are clear, up to date and not contradictory - marriage/civil partnership isn't the issue.

TVAS said:

You went to solicitors first (expensive) you did not complain to Scottish Widows and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Why is everyone so fixated on FOS? This is for the Pensions Ombudsman.

TVAS

It is for FOS because the product is a personal pension rather than an employer sponsored occupational pension. The former is FOS, the latter is POS.