Estranged Father Pension After Death

Brightbird97

Hi,

My father died in August, and my siblings and I have received a letter with an Appendix to describe our relationship with our father. They are:

Financially Independent - where two financially independent individuals have chosen to simply co-habit but there would be no pooling of everyday resources (2 friends in a house/a home owner and a lodger)

Financially Interdependent - a close personal relationship exists between two people who live together and both provide financial and domestic support to each other

Financially Dependent - where one person is financially secure and is providing financial assistance to someone else to provide living essentials

My Father was an alcoholic, we hadn't seen him for 10 years prior to his death, and he didn't support us in any way, shape or form. None of these fit and I can't speak about the policy as I don't know his address (he moved about 7 hours away during the time we didn't see him?).

Marcon

Brightbird97 said:

Hi,

My father died in August, and my siblings and I have received a letter with an Appendix to describe our relationship with our father. They are:

Financially Independent - where two financially independent individuals have chosen to simply co-habit but there would be no pooling of everyday resources (2 friends in a house/a home owner and a lodger)

Financially Interdependent - a close personal relationship exists between two people who live together and both provide financial and domestic support to each other

Financially Dependent - where one person is financially secure and is providing financial assistance to someone else to provide living essentials

My Father was an alcoholic, we hadn't seen him for 10 years prior to his death, and he didn't support us in any way, shape or form. None of these fit and I can't speak about the policy as I don't know his address (he moved about 7 hours away during the time we didn't see him?).

Put that on the form and return it to the insurer. You don't need to speak about the policy - just tell the truth.

Brie

I would simply write back and say what you've said here about your relationship.  Basically that there wasn't one and none of you have been in contact for years.

I expect that they are looking for someone to pay a survivors pension but if there's no financial dependency then unlikely to be any payout.  

Sorry for your loss - even if the actual loss was in the distant past with the end of the relationship.

Brightbird97

Thank you for your kind words, brie. I have explained the situation and sent over.

xylophone

I expect that they are looking for someone to pay a survivors pension

This will depend on the nature of the pension - if a standard DC arrangement, it is possible that there may be an amount to pay to the deceased's children.

Albermarle

Brie said:

I would simply write back and say what you've said here about your relationship.  Basically that there wasn't one and none of you have been in contact for years.

I expect that they are looking for someone to pay a survivors pension but if there's no financial dependency then unlikely to be any payout.  

Sorry for your loss - even if the actual loss was in the distant past with the end of the relationship.

This is probably the case if it is a DB pension, however if it is a DC pot and the Father did not fill in the Expression of Wishes form, then the Trustees have to decide what do with it. They have to pay it out, they can not just keep it ( AFAIK anyway)
So it will go to relations/partners, even if there was no financial dependency.

Marcon

Albermarle said:

Brie said:

I would simply write back and say what you've said here about your relationship.  Basically that there wasn't one and none of you have been in contact for years.

I expect that they are looking for someone to pay a survivors pension but if there's no financial dependency then unlikely to be any payout.  

Sorry for your loss - even if the actual loss was in the distant past with the end of the relationship.

This is probably the case if it is a DB pension, however if it is a DC pot and the Father did not fill in the Expression of Wishes form, then the Trustees have to decide what do with it. They have to pay it out, they can not just keep it ( AFAIK anyway)
So it will go to relations/partners, even if there was no financial dependency.

Given that OP was only given 3 options, all of which involved a description of some sort of financial dependency, the chances of this being a DB pension are pretty high!

westv

Marcon said:

Albermarle said:

Brie said:

I would simply write back and say what you've said here about your relationship.  Basically that there wasn't one and none of you have been in contact for years.

I expect that they are looking for someone to pay a survivors pension but if there's no financial dependency then unlikely to be any payout.  

Sorry for your loss - even if the actual loss was in the distant past with the end of the relationship.

This is probably the case if it is a DB pension, however if it is a DC pot and the Father did not fill in the Expression of Wishes form, then the Trustees have to decide what do with it. They have to pay it out, they can not just keep it ( AFAIK anyway)
So it will go to relations/partners, even if there was no financial dependency.

Given that OP was only given 3 options, all of which involved a description of some sort of financial dependency, the chances of this being a DB pension are pretty high!

The options involve people living in the same house.
One refers to a completely independent arrangement, one refers to pooling of finances and one refers to financial dependents.