Can Pension Company refuse to pay to nominee

Karenh60

My husband has me down as nominee on his private pension.
Can the Pension Company override his request as I've heard this happen to a few people ? 

AlanP_2

They could as payments are at the discretion of the Trustees (so not the company as such) but AFAIK it very rarely happens and there is usually a logical reason why it has e.g. first wife died, remarried and didn't update Expression of Wishes and the like.

MattMattMattUK

Karenh60 said:

My husband has me down as nominee on his private pension.
Can the Pension Company override his request as I've heard this happen to a few people ? 

Do you mean in the event of his death?

If so then not so much the pension company, but if there were previous wives and there were issues with the financial side not being finalised, or if the pension was awarded to the ex-wife as part of the divorce then yes (although it would normally be partially transferred).
When you say you have heard this happen to a few people, do you mean scare stories on social media, or reports in reputable news sources?

artyboy

Yes. It's at the discretion of the pension trustees because of the way that pensions are structured as legal trusts, and therefore not part of your estate.

But generally they will follow an expression of wish unless there is a good reason not to do so. They are operating in a regulated financial business so it's not like they can just decide to pocket the money or give it to one of their mates.

Is there a particular scenario where you feel they might be influenced by someone else saying they should get some/all of it? If you are still married at the point that your husband dies, it would be extremely unlikely that they would not follow his wishes.

The scenario mentioned last night on the Martin Lewis show was one where a woman that died had not updated her expression of wish despite having been divorced for over 20 years - wasn't clear how that will end up but this is one situation where the pension trustees might exercise some discretion based on claims from children etc that it's no longer appropriate to pay the pension to the long ex-husband.

Cobbler_tone

This is an issue which troubles me a little whilst living with a partner.
I am divorced and have grown up children.
My beneficiary on both pensions is my partner and the rules of my DB are 'husband/wife/civil partner'.
It is the reason we will ultimately probably get married because otherwise it is at the discretion of the Trustees.
We are not even in a world where she could demonstrate that she is financially dependant on me.

kempiejon

Cobbler_tone said:

This is an issue which troubles me a little whilst living with a partner.
I am divorced and have grown up children.
My beneficiary on both pensions is my partner and the rules of my DB are 'husband/wife/civil partner'.
It is the reason we will ultimately probably get married because otherwise it is at the discretion of the Trustees.
We are not even in a world where she could demonstrate that she is financially dependant on me.

Ssh, don't let this idea get about, what with inheritnce tax and access to my pensions I'm more attractive to the SO if we're partnered and then I'm more at risk from their money grabbing machinations.

Albermarle

Cobbler_tone said:

This is an issue which troubles me a little whilst living with a partner.
I am divorced and have grown up children.
My beneficiary on both pensions is my partner and the rules of my DB are 'husband/wife/civil partner'.
It is the reason we will ultimately probably get married because otherwise it is at the discretion of the Trustees.
We are not even in a world where she could demonstrate that she is financially dependant on me.

DB rules are scheme dependent and they do normally restrict a 'spouse pension' to married/civil partner.
If there isn't one there is no ongoing pension.

Trustees of DC schemes should have no problem to pay out to a named beneficiary who is not a spouse/civil partner, assuming no other unusual circumstances/objections from ex wife/husband etc.

Marcon

Karenh60 said:

My husband has me down as nominee on his private pension.
Can the Pension Company override his request as I've heard this happen to a few people ? 

Really? It's extremely unusual. I wouldn't rely on hearsay or scaremongering in the press. Your husband needs to ensure his Expression of Wish form is regularly updated (even if it'll say the same thing each time), so that if it is needed, those taking the decision can be confident those are his current wishes.

dunstonh

Karenh60 said:

My husband has me down as nominee on his private pension.
Can the Pension Company override his request as I've heard this happen to a few people ? 

Yes they can.  However, it is rare.   So hearing it happen to a few people would be unusual.   I think I have only seen it a couple of times in decades.    And the change of beneficiaries by the trustees were logical and correct.

Cobbler_tone

Albermarle said:

Cobbler_tone said:

This is an issue which troubles me a little whilst living with a partner.
I am divorced and have grown up children.
My beneficiary on both pensions is my partner and the rules of my DB are 'husband/wife/civil partner'.
It is the reason we will ultimately probably get married because otherwise it is at the discretion of the Trustees.
We are not even in a world where she could demonstrate that she is financially dependant on me.

Trustees of DC schemes should have no problem to pay out to a named beneficiary who is not a spouse/civil partner, assuming no other unusual circumstances/objections from ex wife/husband etc.

The issue with that is the word "should". I may be dead at the time (i.e. not my problem!) but I would like to think that there would be zero chance of it not being paid out to a named surviving partner on my DB scheme.
Making things 'official' take that chance out. I actually know one of the Trustee's quite well personally and they gave me a politicians answer when I spoke to them.
Even more important if it forms a part of their future financial security if I'm not about, i.e. they can meet the next man of their dreams and cruise around the world.   

MEM62

Karenh60 said:

Can the Pension Company override his request as I've heard this happen to a few people ? 

Yes, but they would need a compelling reason to do so.  They do not make decisions based on a whim.