will i inherit any of my late husbands state pension?

vickyholly

Hi, im way ahead of myself, im sadly have become a widow at 48, my husband was 51, The information is confusing to me on inheriting state pension, I have a 6 year gap in my NI contributions, due to traveling when i was younger, Too late to make these up now and dont know if i will work again, Which means i wont get full state pension, but would i be entitled to some of my husbands? I know its a long way off , but planning financially ahead as much as poss, Thanks  

anna42hmr

Sorry to for your loss.

Unfortunately it is unlikely reading this on the gov.uk site https://www.gov.uk/death-spouse-benefits-tax-pension/pensions as it seems you need to reach state pension age before 6 April 2016.

vickyholly

anna42hmr said:

Sorry to for your loss.

Unfortunately it is unlikely reading this on the gov.uk site https://www.gov.uk/death-spouse-benefits-tax-pension/pensions as it seems you need to reach state pension age before 6 April 2016.

Thanks , I thought as much though it is confusing , this bit about 50% , am i reading that wrong? https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/inheriting-or-increasing-state-pension-from-a-spouse-or-civil-partner

BooJewels

As you know @vickyholly I'm in much the same boat.  I have actually done the application to see if I get anything (bit closer to pension than you) and it came back that I get an extra £10-something a week, as half of my husband's 'protected payment' - I don't know what that is quite, but I certainly don't get any of the state pension he paid into for over 40 years.  But it might be worth you just asking about it.

However, it might not be too late to pay some extra to get your NICs topped up to secure you a full state pension - I just paid up four and a half years and need to pay another 2 before I hit pension age (about 5 years off) to secure a full state pension.  I would suggest it would be worth ringing and asking the question, as I found them extremely helpful.  They worked it out on the phone with me and gave me the amount due and a reference number and I paid it the same day - all done and sorted out in a couple of hours.

lisyloo

So sorry for your loss.
I don’t think the above link applies to you looking at the dates, but you can certainly look at paying for missing years (not sure how many you can buy). This may be very good value.

vickyholly

BooJewels said:

As you know @vickyholly I'm in much the same boat.  I have actually done the application to see if I get anything (bit closer to pension than you) and it came back that I get an extra £10-something a week, as half of my husband's 'protected payment' - I don't know what that is quite, but I certainly don't get any of the state pension he paid into for over 40 years.  But it might be worth you just asking about it.

However, it might not be too late to pay some extra to get your NICs topped up to secure you a full state pension - I just paid up four and a half years and need to pay another 2 before I hit pension age (about 5 years off) to secure a full state pension.  I would suggest it would be worth ringing and asking the question, as I found them extremely helpful.  They worked it out on the phone with me and gave me the amount due and a reference number and I paid it the same day - all done and sorted out in a couple of hours.

Hi, hope youre doing ok? Yes i will ring them, ive asked before about making up the missing 6 years , but they told me it was too long ago now. 

Gers

It may be worth posting in the pensions board
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/pensions-annuities-retirement-planning

There's a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people there. I hope you get a good answer. 

molerat

BooJewels said:

....... and it came back that I get an extra £10-something a week, as half of my husband's 'protected payment' - I don't know what that is quite,

For a post 2016 retiree the protected payment is any amount above the full £179.60 new pension, 50% of this can be inherited.

And OP, I echo the above comment about asking on the pension board.  Over there you will pretty much get exactly the same info as you would speaking to the FPC.

BooJewels

Thanks @molerat - I got that it's half of what he qualified for above basic state pension - what I didn't get told was how he qualified for the extra, as a recent pension forecast didn't mention it.

@vickyholly - thanks, I'm doing okay - hope you are holding up okay too?  The realisation of dealing with maintenance and repairs on my own is hitting home a bit at the moment - I keep finding myself too short, too weak or with too few hands to do some tasks, despite best intentions.  

vickyholly

@vickyholly - thanks, I'm doing okay - hope you are holding up okay too?  The realisation of dealing with maintenance and repairs on my own is hitting home a bit at the moment - I keep finding myself too short, too weak or with too few hands to do some tasks, despite best intentions.  

Yes i know what you mean, my 11year old daughter is really struggling ,so im still finding life hard, but at last we are starting to get abit of help. Take care

uss_tish

@vickyholly and @BooJewels so sorry for your loss I totally get the feelings of being overwhelmed with life admin and house maintenance. I too lost my husband 16 months ago and had assumed I wouldn’t inherit any of his state pension but this thread seems to suggest I should at least look into it. @BooJewels may I ask which form you had to fill in?

❤️ To you both, it’s so tough especially with young children.