Pension on death of parent

DRS1

Chitters666 said:

Hi, my partners children's dad passed away a few months ago and the probate for the estate is with their solicitor.
During the time passed we have discovered that a private pension has paid out a huge sum to his previous partner (together 3 years, lived together few months) with no contact to either of his children as next of kin.
Is this allowed? I would of thought they would have contacted his children before deciding who to pay?
Any advice appreciated.

Many thanks

What do you mean by previous?  Was this partner with the dad before your partner?  Or were they with him at the time of his death? Or I suppose it could be both?

If the children are under 18 it may be worth trying to find out more about the pension scheme and what death benefits it provides.  The lump sum may not be all there is.  Of course the query may be better coming from your partner.

Aretnap

Albermarle said:

Aretnap said:

400ixl said:

If his ex was the nominated beneficiary and he didn't change it then that is who the trustees would pay out to.

Not necessarily. It is common for the trustees to override an expression of wish, especially where there is evidence that is out of date. It is not binding on then and they do have discretion to pay out to someone else if they see fit.

Yes they can override, but I do not think it is common? I have seen it mentioned on the forum that it happens less than 1% of the time, although I do not know how accurate that is.

Well, common is a relative term. My main point was that it's more complicated than "expression of wish says ex-partner, so it goes to ex-partner", and that the scenario that the OP seems to be outlining (out of date EoW naming ex-partner with whom he no longer has a personal or financial relationship) is potentially one of those where it would be common to override the EoW. Though you're right that it will depend on the type of scheme, and also on details such as how recently and how completely they split up. More information from the OP is needed.

Marcon

Aretnap said:

Albermarle said:

Aretnap said:

400ixl said:

If his ex was the nominated beneficiary and he didn't change it then that is who the trustees would pay out to.

Not necessarily. It is common for the trustees to override an expression of wish, especially where there is evidence that is out of date. It is not binding on then and they do have discretion to pay out to someone else if they see fit.

Yes they can override, but I do not think it is common? I have seen it mentioned on the forum that it happens less than 1% of the time, although I do not know how accurate that is.

Well, common is a relative term. My main point was that it's more complicated than "expression of wish says ex-partner, so it goes to ex-partner", and that the scenario that the OP seems to be outlining (out of date EoW naming ex-partner with whom he no longer has a personal or financial relationship) is potentially one of those where it would be common to override the EoW. Though you're right that it will depend on the type of scheme, and also on details such as how recently and how completely they split up. More information from the OP is needed.

Which is exactly why an appropriate amount of due diligence has to be carried out.

From what (little) OP has said, this sounds like a personal pension of some description (assuming it isn't a death in service lump sum - a question I've asked earlier), with the full amount being awarded to an 'old' partner of the deceased. If that decision was made without the pension provider making appropriate enquiries, and the provider didn't know of the children's existence, then some questions certainly need to be asked of the provider. Without knowing what information was taken into account when they made their decision, it's impossible to know what might happen next.

Until OP comes back and answers some of the questions raised on this thread, there's not much point speculating.