Pension overpayment of partner who passed away

Sarahspangles

Northstar2 said:

Hello guys again! I appreciate all your advice. Can I ask if the this pension company’s death benefit and widower’s pension scheme different?

This is why I was asking about the reason they paid him a lump sum. Lump sums are routinely paid out at the point someone retires, alongside a pension, but pension schemes may also allow a member to draw out a small pension pot in its entirety, or will pay out larger pots to someone who provides evidence they are terminally ill.

I think Marcon may be right, and the pension fund are trying to help you by reversing the payout of the fund - meaning you have to pay it back - in return for giving you a widower’s pension that may be more valuable to you in the long term.

Northstar2

Sarahspangles said:

Northstar2 said:

Hello guys again! I appreciate all your advice. Can I ask if the this pension company’s death benefit and widower’s pension scheme different?

This is why I was asking about the reason they paid him a lump sum. Lump sums are routinely paid out at the point someone retires, alongside a pension, but pension schemes may also allow a member to draw out a small pension pot in its entirety, or will pay out larger pots to someone who provides evidence they are terminally ill.

I think Marcon may be right, and the pension fund are trying to help you by reversing the payout of the fund - meaning you have to pay it back - in return for giving you a widower’s pension that may be more valuable to you in the long term.

He was given a lump sum for ill health, not a monthly pension.

So is death benefit another thing to claim apart from the widower’s pension or is it just either? When he died I didn’t get anything.

Northstar2

@Marcon you need details to answer if death benefit and widower’s pension scheme are different claims or just either?

Brie

A death benefit is something that a company might pay out on the death of an employee.  Sometimes it is only available if the individual is also a member of their pension scheme which is administered separately.  So the death benefit is just like life insurance and might be 4 x annual salary. 

A widow's pension is paid by a pension scheme depending on the T&Cs.  It sounds to me that the scheme paid out the entire pension benefit due to extreme ill health without accounting for you as civil partner so we're back to the potential of the overpayment being returned in some way so you can get the widow's pension payout which may be a reduced monthly amount over 5 or 10 years.  If you give us (or one of us by PM) the name of the scheme more info might be available on line that we/someone can look at.  Otherwise you need to talk to the bereavement team for the pension scheme.

Marcon

Northstar2 said:

@Marcon you need details to answer if death benefit and widower’s pension scheme are different claims or just either?

I think there are too many 'what if...' scenarios here and constantly asking you for more information is just going to distress you further without necessarily getting to any sort of resolution.

I don't think any further posts here will resolve matters and you are quite upset enough already. Please let me again urge you to contact MoneyHelper and then you can speak to someone on the phone (have all your paperwork to hand when you call) and they will be able to ask the right questions depending on the answers you are giving. 

Northstar2

Brie said:

A death benefit is something that a company might pay out on the death of an employee.  Sometimes it is only available if the individual is also a member of their pension scheme which is administered separately.  So the death benefit is just like life insurance and might be 4 x annual salary. 

A widow's pension is paid by a pension scheme depending on the T&Cs.  It sounds to me that the scheme paid out the entire pension benefit due to extreme ill health without accounting for you as civil partner so we're back to the potential of the overpayment being returned in some way so you can get the widow's pension payout which may be a reduced monthly amount over 5 or 10 years.  If you give us (or one of us by PM) the name of the scheme more info might be available on line that we/someone can look at.  Otherwise you need to talk to the bereavement team for the pension scheme.

Pm Thanks 

Keep_pedalling

Northstar2 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Northstar2 said:

Hello guys again! I appreciate all your advice. Can I ask if the this pension company’s death benefit and widower’s pension scheme different?

This is why I was asking about the reason they paid him a lump sum. Lump sums are routinely paid out at the point someone retires, alongside a pension, but pension schemes may also allow a member to draw out a small pension pot in its entirety, or will pay out larger pots to someone who provides evidence they are terminally ill.

I think Marcon may be right, and the pension fund are trying to help you by reversing the payout of the fund - meaning you have to pay it back - in return for giving you a widower’s pension that may be more valuable to you in the long term.

He was given a lump sum for ill health, not a monthly pension.

So is death benefit another thing to claim apart from the widower’s pension or is it just either? When he died I didn’t get anything.

Some pension schemes offer a one off ill health payment if the beneficiary has been given a terminal diagnosis. If someone has been a member for a long time this can be a substantial payment, but there will be no other payments, either regular payments or on death.

Unfortunately the administrators can get the calculation wrong and an overpayment is reclaimable. You should not however just take their word for it ask them for the full details of how they calculated the overpayment.

Marcon

Keep_pedalling said:

Northstar2 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Northstar2 said:

Hello guys again! I appreciate all your advice. Can I ask if the this pension company’s death benefit and widower’s pension scheme different?

This is why I was asking about the reason they paid him a lump sum. Lump sums are routinely paid out at the point someone retires, alongside a pension, but pension schemes may also allow a member to draw out a small pension pot in its entirety, or will pay out larger pots to someone who provides evidence they are terminally ill.

I think Marcon may be right, and the pension fund are trying to help you by reversing the payout of the fund - meaning you have to pay it back - in return for giving you a widower’s pension that may be more valuable to you in the long term.

He was given a lump sum for ill health, not a monthly pension.

So is death benefit another thing to claim apart from the widower’s pension or is it just either? When he died I didn’t get anything.

Some pension schemes offer a one off ill health payment if the beneficiary has been given a terminal diagnosis. If someone has been a member for a long time this can be a substantial payment, but there will be no other payments, either regular payments or on death.

A terminal diagnosis isn't necessarily sufficient. Normally life expectancy needs to be 12 months or less to qualify for a payment of the full fund, tax free, on health grounds.

If it's a defined benefit scheme, survivors' benefits are not affected.

There could be a payment on death if the individual is still employed at the time of death and the employer offers death in service benefits.

In short, essential to check the facts of each particular case.

BooJewels

Having claimed against 3 private pensions of my late husband's I can tell you that they definitely differ in the details - so checking the documentation of the specific scheme is the first thing to do, as well as any documents sent from them over time - which if my own experience is any guide, will be quite a lot.

My husband could have claimed his full pot tax free once he had a limited life expectancy, but they told him that if he didn't need it at the time, I would get rather more after his death as there was a life insurance aspect to it.  Plus, he wasn't yet claiming it as a pension, which changed many of the options available to me too.  

So it's very difficult for anyone to give detailed advice to the OP without being familiar with the specifics of the scheme and their circumstances.