St James Place Wealth Management - Retirement Account - EOW/LPT

[Deleted User]

I'm currently dealing with a retirement account for a relative who has passed away. My dealings with SJP have been confusing to say the least. My relative completed an Expression of Wishes form and also prepared an Asset Preservation Trust (now known as a Legacy Preseveration Trust). SJP have advised that they are going to disregard these documents for now and want confirmation from all the beneficiaries in my relative's will as to whether they want to make a claim on the retirement account. This is a lengthy process as my relative wanted to share their estate with a number of people (over 20) but had given specific instructions to SJP about what they wanted to happen to their pension should they pass away. Has anyone else had similar dealings with SJP. I think this is a stark reminder that wishes will not always been followed in the event of a death, 

Albermarle

I would guess that if the beneficiary was a spouse, or child, there would be no issue. If the pension provider suspects that since the expression of wish form the situation has now changed considerably ( maybe leaving it to a now divorced wife who has married again as an example) they are obliged to look into the family situation further.

 I think this is a stark reminder that wishes will not always been followed in the event of a death, 
Yes that is always a possibility,but I believe it only happens in a very small number of cases. It may well be that after investigating the situation that they will stay pay out to the named beneficiary.

squirrelpie

Happychappy20 said:

My relative completed an Expression of Wishes form and also prepared an Asset Preservation Trust (now known as a Legacy Preseveration Trust).

Just for clarity, did your relative communicate these to SJP before they died, or just completed them?

Linton

Pension statements of wishes are purely that. Although in most cases the the statement of wishes will be followed, the decision on who shuld receive the money on the death of the pension owner is at the discretion of the pension trustees, .  That comes from pensions being a trust arrangement and so outside one's estate.  It is not anything specifically to do with SJP.

[Deleted User]

squirrelpie said:

Happychappy20 said:

My relative completed an Expression of Wishes form and also prepared an Asset Preservation Trust (now known as a Legacy Preseveration Trust).

Just for clarity, did your relative communicate these to SJP before they died, or just completed them?

Completed the Asset Preservation Trust form and provided this to her Financial Advisor who in turn failed to lodge it with SJP until after their death. 

[Deleted User]

Linton said:

Pension statements of wishes are purely that. Although in most cases the the statement of wishes will be followed, the decision on who shuld receive the money on the death of the pension owner is at the discretion of the pension trustees, .  That comes from pensions being a trust arrangement and so outside one's estate.  It is not anything specifically to do with SJP.

Is this the case even when an individual has completed an asset preservation trust stating that the money should be paid into the Trust in the event of their death?

gm0

You could complain about the failure to file.  But it might gum things up even more.
The possibility of complaint about failure to file could incentivise the sales agent/SJP partner to dig out and provide evidence of the received but not filed document - to lower the risk rating on the trust case and perhaps get the back office team to reconsider just following the EOW. 

But that argument may now take longer than collecting the validation signatures depending upon how many and where and in what state of health people are.  If there is no evidence it was done long ago and it has magically appeared now - they may very well insist on doing what they have now requested.  Managing their risk based on the rules not your convenience.

Good luck

squirrelpie

Happychappy20 said:

Linton said:

Pension statements of wishes are purely that. Although in most cases the the statement of wishes will be followed, the decision on who shuld receive the money on the death of the pension owner is at the discretion of the pension trustees, .  That comes from pensions being a trust arrangement and so outside one's estate.  It is not anything specifically to do with SJP.

Is this the case even when an individual has completed an asset preservation trust stating that the money should be paid into the Trust in the event of their death?

But from SJP's point of view the individual didn't complete an asset preservation trust. That appeared after the death, so they may well just be being cautious to make sure there's no sharp business going on.

Chickereeeee

A Financial Advisor AND SJP? So the FA wasn't an SJP employee?

[Deleted User]

Chickereeeee said:

A Financial Advisor AND SJP? So the FA wasn't an SJP employee?

Hard to differentiate who the Financial Advisor works for. They appear to be an agent of SJP. 

wjr4

Happychappy20 said:

Chickereeeee said:

A Financial Advisor AND SJP? So the FA wasn't an SJP employee?

Hard to differentiate who the Financial Advisor works for. They appear to be an agent of SJP. 

There’s lots of financial advisers who look like they own their own company but are actually agents of SJP.