Pension transfer on death

shedboy52

Moved the whole lot to HL

shedboy52

The advisor has now removed my sister in law/brother as a customer with the additional comment ' I never wanted to be involved in your pensions'

Maybe he'd already spent the £4k fee on a holiday 

Malthusian

That sounds highly unprofessional to me and it sounds like she is well rid of him.

I thought she'd moved the whole lot to HL? In which case she'd already removed herself as a customer. She never became one in the first place as I understand it.

Although one question that I don't think has been answered is whether the brother was receiving ongoing advice. If the answer is "no" then the adviser would have been justified in charging her a separate fee. If it was transactional advice (no ongoing advice) the £4k was already spent on the original transaction.

shedboy52

Malthusian said:

That sounds highly unprofessional to me and it sounds like she is well rid of him.

I thought she'd moved the whole lot to HL? In which case she'd already removed herself as a customer. She never became one in the first place as I understand it.

Although one question that I don't think has been answered is whether the brother was receiving ongoing advice. If the answer is "no" then the adviser would have been justified in charging her a separate fee. If it was transactional advice (no ongoing advice) the £4k was already spent on the original transaction.

I believe that Quilter were paying him an ongoing commission which was included in their charges. This was to cover some form of ongoing support/advice/review

dunstonh

I believe that Quilter were paying him an ongoing commission which was included in their charges. This was to cover some form of ongoing support/advice/review

That will not be the case.  Commission was banned in 2013 for new business.   You mentioned in #1 that he transferred his pension to use drawdown a few months before he died.  So, this would make it post 2013.   

For post 2013 business, the consumer decides whether there is ongoing service or not.  If there is, then the consumer pays for it explicitly.     It isn't a commission.

If ongoing servicing is being paid for then it must be in return for services.       Switching the pension over to the beneficiary for continuation would be expected under ongoing servicing.   Although it would require the adviser to complete the advice process if the beneficiary was not an existing client.    Personally, I expect most, advisers would treat retirement provisions as joint and have a "what happens if you die" scenario already mapped out in terms of who will benefit and what will happen.  So, when the death occurs, the adviser can get on with the work required with as little hassle to the grieving spouse as possible.

shedboy52

I probably shouldn't have used 'commission' ... but it's now academic as it's being transferred to HL. 

bostonerimus

Sounds like "too many cooks". But one point to think about is beneficiaries for your DC pensions and taking some time to understand what will happen when you die and tell your heirs.