Marriage, age difference and pension rights

harrym1byt

I'm 75 retired and receiving a £200 pw state pension. She is 56, for various reasons previous marriage/kids etc. she has only had a full time job for the past 7 years. No doubt she will end up on benefits when she does retire.

Now supposing we were to get married and I then later passed away. What difference would that make to her pension/pension rights when her time came to claim a pension please? 

DE_612183

not sure it would make much difference - would she inherit your estate when you pass away - and what would the value be?

I think if she ended up with over £10k of savings then that would impact any benefits she gets - it may also be the case even if you aren't married....

MovingForwards

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6354726/thinking-of-getting-married-first-time#latest

If you do get married or live together make a will to set out what you want to happen with everything you own, including savings and the house. She should do likewise as there's no guarantee you would pass first.

Has she done a pension forecast to see what state pension she'll potentially receive? 

With the money from the sale of her own property, assuming she's not spent it all, she won't meet pension credit criteria; obviously if you leave her everything that will also prevent her claiming too. She also can't give the money away as that will be seen as deprivation of assets.

sheramber

If you are married she may qualify for  Bereavement Support Payment

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Bereavement-Support-Payment/How-much-Bereavement-Support-Payment-will-I-get

molerat

For a marriage post April 2016 the usual inheriting part of the additional state pension does not apply.

She needs to get her own forecast as a first step, she may accrued have more than you think especially if having received child benefit - MrsM had 20 years from CB alone under the pre 2010 rules.  https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Bigwheels1111

My friend though she would not get a full pension, as has been off work due to illness and disability.
Not able to check online as has no photo id.
Called and found out she has full entitlement as Ni was paid as part of benefit.
Mine will be full as I get carers allowance and ni is paid for me.

p00hsticks

harrym1byt said:

She is 56, for various reasons previous marriage/kids etc. she has only had a full time job for the past 7 years. No doubt she will end up on benefits when she does retire.

I suggest before you start making assumptions like that you get her to actually get a state pension forecast, as she may not be in as bad a position as you think she is.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

For starters, in addition to the 7 years full time working, she's of the age where she would have got three years automatic credits for the years she turned 16, 17 and 18.  Then if she was getting child benefit she should have got either NI credits or the earlier Home Responsibilities Protection from that, and if she ever worked part time it's possible to build up enough NI contributions to fill a year, even if not earning enough to actually pay any NI.

https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits

Keep_pedalling

I think the more important question is are you planing to leave her you house and savings. If you are why would she be dependant on benefits? The big tax issue in this situation is IHT if your net worth exceeds £325k. Getting married would avoid any IHT issue. If you plan to leave your estate to others marriage is still advantageous if you also planned to leave her a life interest in your house.