Pension Bee - Death Benefit

MarkR1985

Good morning and Happy New Year!

Look for some advice. We lost my father-in-law suddenly in October. My Mrs is currently in the process of dealing with the estate (we have letter of administration). We found funds in a PensionBee account and have contacted them in order to claim the death benefit. 

Has anyone had any dealing with Pensionbee and gone through this process?

Mrs feels like we are constantly going over the same thing with them with them requesting documents we have already sent more than once and so forth. 

Only potential sticking point i can see them hiding behind is the fact that as of writing we only have an interim death certificate as we are still waiting on cause of death from the coroner (expected end of feb) but we have had no other issues with any other institutions with having interim certificate.

We just want this sorting ASAP and feel like this is being dragged on.
No real point of contact and being passed from pillar to post.

TIA.

Silvertabby

My sympathies to you both.

Most financial institutions/pension funds do accept interim death certificates, but any funds that include an element of life insurance may hold out for the actual death certificate and confirmation of the cause of death.  Is that the case here?

If not, then while 3 months may seem like a long time to you it sadly isn't in the world of finance, especially at this time of year.  Hopefully, someone will pop up with some better contact details for you.

Albermarle

We found funds in a PensionBee account and have contacted them in order to claim the death benefit. 

For this type of pension, there is no 'death benefit' as such.
However the Trustees/Pension Bee will pass on the pension to beneficiaries.
If your Father in Law had filled in an 'Expression of Wishes' form naming a beneficiary, then the process should go relatively smoothly, although the beneficiary will have to prove their identity.
If he did not name a beneficiary, this will slow the whole process down.
Are you aware that when/if it is paid it will be in the form of a pension pot and not a direct cash sum as such?
Withdrawals from the pot may be taxable. It depends to some extent on how old he was when he died.

Marcon

MarkR1985 said:

Good morning and Happy New Year!

Look for some advice. We lost my father-in-law suddenly in October. My Mrs is currently in the process of dealing with the estate (we have letter of administration). We found funds in a PensionBee account and have contacted them in order to claim the death benefit. 

Has anyone had any dealing with Pensionbee and gone through this process?

Mrs feels like we are constantly going over the same thing with them with them requesting documents we have already sent more than once and so forth. 

Only potential sticking point i can see them hiding behind is the fact that as of writing we only have an interim death certificate as we are still waiting on cause of death from the coroner (expected end of feb) but we have had no other issues with any other institutions with having interim certificate.

We just want this sorting ASAP and feel like this is being dragged on.
No real point of contact and being passed from pillar to post.

TIA.

I appreciate how miserable this must be, especially for your wife, but in fairness to PensionBee they aren't 'hiding behind' anything. They say very clearly on their website that they require the final death certificate:

We understand that losing a loved one is a challenging time, so each claim will be handled by a specialist Compliance Manager at PensionBee. To notify PensionBee about the passing of a customer, the next of kin or executor of the estate should get in touch with us. If they need to notify us, they can call us as a first step. If they’re unable to call, they can send us an email.

For security reasons and to locate the customer’s account, they’ll need to provide the following:

• full legal name;
• date of birth;
• National Insurance number; and
• current address.

Once we receive this information, we’ll update our records to reflect the bereavement. We’ll also send a form that needs to be filled out and returned to us.

To begin the review of any death benefits that may be payable from the customer’s plan, the form must be completed in full and returned along with the final death certificate and any other relevant supporting documents. The Compliance Manager will confirm any further requirements upon return of the form and provide guidance on next steps.

We can’t provide a definite time frame for the completion of our review, approval of beneficiaries and associated payments. This is because the process involves multiple parties and we rely on third parties for certain aspects of it. The final decision regarding who any death benefits will be paid to lies with us as scheme administrator and trustee.

What isn't acceptable is passing someone from pillar to post and leaving them with a sense of having no real point of contact. If that's really what is happening (and sometimes it feels like that when the reality might be that someone else tried to lend a hand while the contact point was not available), then make a complaint about that, and you could also ask why the final death certificate is needed: complaints@pensionbee.com

dunstonh

Has anyone had any dealing with Pensionbee and gone through this process?

The process is very similar across all providers as they all have to follow pension legislation.

Only potential sticking point i can see them hiding behind is the fact that as of writing we only have an interim death certificate as we are still waiting on cause of death from the coroner (expected end of feb) but we have had no other issues with any other institutions with having interim certificate.

Were the other institutions handled under small estates rule? or probate? or in trust?

Was there an expression of wish with this pension?

We just want this sorting ASAP and feel like this is being dragged on.

If there was no expression of wish then it could well be drawn out and you could be looking at a year potentially and involve a lot of questions on living relatives.  Each of whom is usually contacted by the pension provider and their responses will often dictate the speed.

Marcon

dunstonh said:

Was there an expression of wish with this pension?

We just want this sorting ASAP and feel like this is being dragged on.

If there was no expression of wish then it could well be drawn out and you could be looking at a year potentially and involve a lot of questions on living relatives.  Each of whom is usually contacted by the pension provider and their responses will often dictate the speed.

OP - if your wife has access to her late father's account, she can check to see if he nominated anyone through his 'Beehive'. There isn't a separate paper form she needs to search for.

badmemory

Of course the next question should be why is it taking over 2 months to issue a final death certificate.

Silvertabby

badmemory said:

Of course the next question should be why is it taking over 2 months to issue a final death certificate.

Nothing unusual about that if a coroner has to determine the cause of death.