Child Accesses Mothers Pension After Her Death

xylophone

Do you mean the bereavement grant, either £2,500 or £3,500 lump sum, and a monthly payment of £100 or £350 respectively? 

OP, this is the benefit provided by central government to support those who are widowed.

https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment/what-youll-get

It has nothing to do with your late wife's local government pension scheme.

It is clear that you and your son are eligible to receive a widower's/dependant's pension from the scheme.

The question is whether a death grant would also be payable in your wife's specific circumstances.

Was your wife receiving a pension from LGPS at the time she died?

Or was she still in LGPS employment at that time?

Or did she have a deferred pension?

Do these links help?

https://www.lgpsmember.org/faqs/what-death-grant-is-paid-if-i-die-when-i-am-paying-into-the-lgps/

https://www.lgpsmember.org/faqs/what-death-grant-is-paid-if-i-am-receiving-my-pension-from-the-lgps/

Marcon

OP - Silvertabby (who has specialist knowledge of the LGPS) and I have been in touch with each other and I have just sent you a private message (PM) with a suggested draft email for you to send to the pensions department you are dealing with. 

To access the PM, look at the dark green/top right part of your screen and you'll see a little envelope icon, hopefully with a tiny red '1' showing to confirm there's a message waiting for you. Click on that to open.

You won't need to add any further input to that draft other than name, address etc unless you wish to do so - it covers all possibilities.

Again, our sympathies. Do come back if anyone here can help further.

QrizB

Marcon said:

To access the PM, look at the dark green/top right part of your screen and you'll see a little envelope icon, hopefully with a tiny red '1' showing to confirm there's a message waiting for you. Click on that to open.

If you're browsing in mobile, you might have to turn your phone into landscape orientation to find the envelope.

Or click your picture in the top-right.

Flugelhorn

Marcon said:

OP - Silvertabby (who has specialist knowledge of the LGPS) and I have been in touch with each other and I have just sent you a private message (PM) with a suggested draft email for you to send to the pensions department you are dealing with. 

To access the PM, look at the dark green/top right part of your screen and you'll see a little envelope icon, hopefully with a tiny red '1' showing to confirm there's a message waiting for you. Click on that to open.

You won't need to add any further input to that draft other than name, address etc unless you wish to do so - it covers all possibilities.

Again, our sympathies. Do come back if anyone here can help further.

@neutrino22 hope you see this message

Neutrino22

Marcon said:

OP - Silvertabby (who has specialist knowledge of the LGPS) and I have been in touch with each other and I have just sent you a private message (PM) with a suggested draft email for you to send to the pensions department you are dealing with. 

To access the PM, look at the dark green/top right part of your screen and you'll see a little envelope icon, hopefully with a tiny red '1' showing to confirm there's a message waiting for you. Click on that to open.

You won't need to add any further input to that draft other than name, address etc unless you wish to do so - it covers all possibilities.

Again, our sympathies. Do come back if anyone here can help further.

Really kind of you both. Thanks. I'll update the forum when I receive a reply to your draft letter. 🙂

Neutrino22

Hi. Thank you for all your inputs. I just wanted to give a small update:

After sending the draft letter (thanks to Marcon & Silvertabby) I received an email asking if the pensions officer could call me on the phone. Because I don't know this area very well, I've asked if they could reply to the draft letter - which I've edited into a fully-formed correspondence - via email or post.

Two more questions arose recently: is the pension paid from the date of my wife's death, from the date of the application, or from the date that the first payment goes into the account?

With an LGPS, can a second party (other than the husband or wife) be assigned as the person who manages the pension after the person dies? If so, do the LGPS liaise with that second party when finalising a claim that, in this case, the widowed husband puts forward?

A person has come forward and informally claimed that they worked together with my wife such that that person would take full control of the pension. They claim to have taken the lump sum, and divided up the remainder between myself and my son. I don't consider the person to be reliable on numerous levels, and so I have my doubts.

Lemon_dr1zzle

Pension would be paid from date of death and any arrears back dated with first payment. 

The pensions team should only be liaising with you, an executor, solicitors, and if this is a death in service then the HR team or payroll department of your wife’s employer. No random colleagues should be liaised with and definitely should have nothing to do with the death grant! 

Flugelhorn

that sounds very strange - is this person anything to do with the scheme / employer or family?

Pension would be paid from the date of death 

Marcon

Neutrino22 said:

With an LGPS, can a second party (other than the husband or wife) be assigned as the person who manages the pension after the person dies? If so, do the LGPS liaise with that second party when finalising a claim that, in this case, the widowed husband puts forward?

A person has come forward and informally claimed that they worked together with my wife such that that person would take full control of the pension. They claim to have taken the lump sum, and divided up the remainder between myself and my son. I don't consider the person to be reliable on numerous levels, and so I have my doubts.

This sounds wrong and improbable on any number of levels. I suggest you wait for the written response from the scheme and see how they respond to the question about whether a lump sum death benefit is due from the LGPS. That should clarify whether a lump sum is payable and if not, why not.

As to 'dividing up' the 'remainder' of the pension - the LGPS has already confirmed to you that pensions are payable to you and your son. That confirms that your wife didn't transfer her benefits out of the LGPS, so they will remain subject to the rules of the LGPS, not some random person's idea of 'division'. 

xylophone

A person has come forward and informally claimed that they worked together with my wife such that that person would take full control of the pension. They claim to have taken the lump sum, and divided up the remainder between myself and my son. I don't consider the person to be reliable on numerous levels, and so I have my doubts.

https://www.nottspf.org.uk/members/death-grant-nomination/

As a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), you can nominate who or where you would like your Death Grant to be paid.

The following groups would have a Death Grant payable on their death

• All current members of the LGPS
• All members of the LGPS with Deferred Benefits
• Some pensioner members.

Nottinghamshire County Council, as administering authority of the Fund, may, at its absolute discretion, pay the death grant to, or for the benefit of, the member’s nominee, personal representatives or any person appearing to the authority to have been a relative or dependent of the member.

In making its decision, the Council is required to consider any relatives and dependents who have not been nominated, so it is important to understand that there may be circumstances in which the Council may not follow your wishes.

It would therefore be helpful to us, if you could provide some information in support of the nominations you have made.

You can nominate people or organisations, no matter what their relationship is to you and you can change or cancel your nomination at any time which can be done online or by post. Posted letters of any relatives and dependents who have not been nominated, so it is important to understand that there may be circumstances in which the Council may not follow your wishes.

It would therefore be helpful to us, if you could provide some information in support of the nominations you have made.

You can nominate people or organisations, no matter what their relationship is to you and you can change or cancel your nomination at any time which can be done online or by post. Posted letters of cancellation should contain your full name and address and your signature.

In the event of your death, the Council, in exercising its discretions, could consider that your nomination is invalid, for example where a beneficiary cannot be traced or has died or where your personal circumstances have altered significantly since the date of your nomination.

In fact, it is a good idea to review your nominations regularly in case your personal circumstances have changed.

OP, is it possible that your late wife nominated the person to whom you refer as the recipient of the death grant?