Survivor Pension/Widows Pension if cohabiting/remarrying

C0nfused

In anticipation that in the future I may cohabit and/or remarry, I've been trying to find out if there will be an affect to any of the widows pensions I receive. It seems to be a minefield, and I'm getting contradicting information.

It seems wrong to me that survivor pension benefits are lost when cohabiting/remarrying. People who have lost their spouse should not then have to face a choice between financial stability and love. I do feel that the fact that a number of pensions have updated their policy on this and the widows pension is paid for life, indicates a move in the right direction but this should be across the board. It should also be clear and easy to find out if a pension has this clause in. 

I am sure that this affects a lot of people, is this something that is being reviewed, challenged? 

Marcon

C0nfused said:

In anticipation that in the future I may cohabit and/or remarry, I've been trying to find out if there will be an affect to any of the widows pensions I receive. It seems to be a minefield, and I'm getting contradicting information.

It seems wrong to me that survivor pension benefits are lost when cohabiting/remarrying. People who have lost their spouse should not then have to face a choice between financial stability and love. I do feel that the fact that a number of pensions have updated their policy on this and the widows pension is paid for life, indicates a move in the right direction but this should be across the board. It should also be clear and easy to find out if a pension has this clause in. 

I am sure that this affects a lot of people, is this something that is being reviewed, challenged? 

Where/who are you asking for this information? You need to ask each of the schemes from which you are currently receiving a widow's pension to confirm exactly what the position is in relation to their particular scheme if you cohabit or remarry.

If you don't get straight answers (or any answers!), there's free help readily available to extract the necessary information: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-problems

This provision has been challenged, with some success, but a recent case has highlighted how difficult it is for such challenges to succeed: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/police-widow-pension-scheme-survives-human-rights-challenge/5114657.article

C0nfused

Marcon said:

C0nfused said:

In anticipation that in the future I may cohabit and/or remarry, I've been trying to find out if there will be an affect to any of the widows pensions I receive. It seems to be a minefield, and I'm getting contradicting information.

It seems wrong to me that survivor pension benefits are lost when cohabiting/remarrying. People who have lost their spouse should not then have to face a choice between financial stability and love. I do feel that the fact that a number of pensions have updated their policy on this and the widows pension is paid for life, indicates a move in the right direction but this should be across the board. It should also be clear and easy to find out if a pension has this clause in. 

I am sure that this affects a lot of people, is this something that is being reviewed, challenged? 

Where/who are you asking for this information? You need to ask each of the schemes from which you are currently receiving a widow's pension to confirm exactly what the position is in relation to their particular scheme if you cohabit or remarry.

If you don't get straight answers (or any answers!), there's free help readily available to extract the necessary information: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-problems

This provision has been challenged, with some success, but a recent case has highlighted how difficult it is for such challenges to succeed: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/police-widow-pension-scheme-survives-human-rights-challenge/5114657.article

I've contacted the pension providers individually (thats where I started!). 

I have 4 widows pensions, the paperwork I received for 2 of them stated that I'd lose the benefit if I was to cohabit/remarry, the other 2 I didn't see anything about this and I wasn't in a good place to think about looking further into this. However, I'm in a better place now and am now finding out what position I would be if I was to remarry. I've found (ironically) that the two that I had previous information stating that I'd lose, I wouldn't. The other two.. I've been told that I would lose one of them and I could lose the other. Yet I've found the pension rules information online for one and that states that I wouldn't lose them, and there is nothing in any of the pension policy details that I can find on the other that states either way. 

dunstonh

I've contacted the pension providers individually (thats where I started!). 

Good as the rules are scheme specific.  There is no one-size-fits-all rule.

Yet I've found the pension rules information online for one and that states that I wouldn't lose them, and there is nothing in any of the pension policy details that I can find on the other that states either way. 

If its a policy, that would mean it is either drawdown or annuity.  You dont lose the money with drawdown and annuity would depend on the options selected by the annuitant at purchase.   You wont find that information online.