Can a widow receive late husband's State Pension arrears?

softekcom

Can a widow (78) receive her late husband's state pension arrears?  Does anyone know?  The arrears were applied for before the husband passed away.
The couple lived/live overseas and the widow has never applied for her own state pension. Husband and wife were/are UK citizens.  She is his heir, and they have two adult children.
She may be eligible for Bereavement Support Payment too. 

p00hsticks

When you refer to 'arrears' do you mean that the husband never claimed his State Pension when he first became eligible (either deliberately or just through inaction) and so the pension has been treated as 'deferred ' ?
In which case the widow should probably be able to inherit, but whether they will have the option of getting it as a lump sum or as weekly payments may depend on what how far the husbands application got before he died

See here for details. 
Delay (defer) your State Pension: Inheriting a deferred State Pension - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

softekcom

Her late husband did apply for and got his state pension + part of the arrears.  (He applied more than a decade late.) He never got a letter asking whether he wanted all of the arrears in a lump sum or if he wanted a larger weekly state pension amount.  He got about 20% of the arrears in a lump sum payment, and then sent several enquiries about the rest of the arrears. But unfortunately passed away. 

softekcom

Update: His widow has now been paid her late husband's state pension arrears and has been awarded a state pension in her own right.