Death in Service Benefit Insurance

doire_2

Hello,
My relative lost her husband 2 weeks. His employer has been in touch and he had a death in service insurance policy with his employment which will pay out 3 times his salary.
He did not have an Expression of Wish form filled out.
He was married to my relative for 6 years and together about 17 years. He had a mother and two sisters which he did not get on with.
He had a son (aged 27) who he seen every so often.
None of them went to his funeral

As there was no Expression of Wish form filled out, will those above have any entitlement to this pay out? Or should it go directly to his wife?
There was also no will left.

My relative earned less than him so would have been financially dependent on him to help pay rent and bills

She has asked me to help fill out the insurance claim form but does anyone know where she stands and if I should perhaps take this to a group like citizens advice or even a solicitor?

She really doesn't need any hassle from his family as her life has fallen apart

Thanks for any help

p00hsticks

In my experience the life insurance company will ask details of all close relatives (spouse, parents, children, siblings) and come to a decision on how the money should be distributed

doire_2

p00hsticks said:

In my experience the life insurance company will ask details of all close relatives (spouse, parents, children, siblings) and come to a decision on how the money should be distributed

Thanks for your reply.
Do they take into consideration the childs age? 
How about the deceaseds relationship with parents and siblings?

dunstonh

My relative lost her husband 2 weeks. His employer has been in touch and he had a death in service insurance policy with his employment which will pay out 3 times his salary.

Death in service wont be an insurance policy.   It will be linked to a defined benefit pension.

As there was no Expression of Wish form filled out, will those above have any entitlement to this pay out? 

The trustees will look at his situation and relatives alive and make the decision on who the beneficiary(ies) will be.

In most cases, it will be the spouse where there isn't a dependent child.

doire_2

dunstonh said:

My relative lost her husband 2 weeks. His employer has been in touch and he had a death in service insurance policy with his employment which will pay out 3 times his salary.

Death in service wont be an insurance policy.   It will be linked to a defined benefit pension.

As there was no Expression of Wish form filled out, will those above have any entitlement to this pay out? 

The trustees will look at his situation and relatives alive and make the decision on who the beneficiary(ies) will be.

In most cases, it will be the spouse where there isn't a dependent child.

Thanks. Sorry this is a bit confusing to us all as we haven't dealt with this type of stuff before.
Reading her email she mentions a Life Cover.
Is that the same thing as death in service?

It was just his wife as they had no children. 
He was married before but his son is 27 and not dependent on him

He had no contact with his ex wife. His mother walked out on him at an early age. Contact with sisters was very limited.
Not one of them bothered going to his funeral and we had to help his wife with the funeral costs.

Brie

As someone has mentioned it is likely linked to a work pension.  I've seen it with defined benefit as well as defined contribution schemes.  Basically if you were enrolled with one with your employer this was an extra benefit.  

The expression of wish would be the first thing they would look at but they aren't necessarily going to follow that.  A wife would normally have priority over any other relative or expressed beneficiary but ultimately it will be up to the administrators.  Best to provide them with proof of the marriage and that might be all that they need along with the death certificate.

doire_2

Brie said:

As someone has mentioned it is likely linked to a work pension.  I've seen it with defined benefit as well as defined contribution schemes.  Basically if you were enrolled with one with your employer this was an extra benefit.  

The expression of wish would be the first thing they would look at but they aren't necessarily going to follow that.  A wife would normally have priority over any other relative or expressed beneficiary but ultimately it will be up to the administrators.  Best to provide them with proof of the marriage and that might be all that they need along with the death certificate.

Thank you. Very helpful 

p00hsticks

doire_2 said:

p00hsticks said:

In my experience the life insurance company will ask details of all close relatives (spouse, parents, children, siblings) and come to a decision on how the money should be distributed

Thanks for your reply.
Do they take into consideration the childs age? 
How about the deceaseds relationship with parents and siblings?

I think they will take into account if the child is a minor (and therefore a dependant). 

If by 'relationship' you mean will they ask questions about how well they got on etc, no in my experience they don't. Its simply a form asking for names, dates of birth (and possibly addresses) of any living spouse, children, parents and  siblings - I think in that order.  

I can see that others have said that the death in service will be linked to a DB pension scheme, but when dealing with my late brothers estate a few years ago, the death in service payment was dealt with completely separately from the pension and was definitely handled by an insurance company (Canada Life). He didn't have a DB pension, just a DC pot that was with a completely separate provider.  

vacheron

dunstonh said:

My relative lost her husband 2 weeks. His employer has been in touch and he had a death in service insurance policy with his employment which will pay out 3 times his salary.

Death in service wont be an insurance policy.   It will be linked to a defined benefit pension.

In my personal case at least, my employer has a 4 x DIS insurance policy set up for me because I TUPE''d from a company which offered a DB pension with 4 x DIS, but the new company could not offer a DB scheme (for obvious reasons) so we recieved a DC pension along with a separate Insurance policy to cover the DIS element.

Not sure if this is a common approach or not, but it certainly is a thing.

DullGreyGuy

dunstonh said:

My relative lost her husband 2 weeks. His employer has been in touch and he had a death in service insurance policy with his employment which will pay out 3 times his salary.

Death in service wont be an insurance policy.   It will be linked to a defined benefit pension.

Historically that was true but there are insurers that offer DIS policies to employers

doire_2

p00hsticks said:

doire_2 said:

p00hsticks said:

In my experience the life insurance company will ask details of all close relatives (spouse, parents, children, siblings) and come to a decision on how the money should be distributed

Thanks for your reply.
Do they take into consideration the childs age? 
How about the deceaseds relationship with parents and siblings?

I think they will take into account if the child is a minor (and therefore a dependant). 

If by 'relationship' you mean will they ask questions about how well they got on etc, no in my experience they don't. Its simply a form asking for names, dates of birth (and possibly addresses) of any living spouse, children, parents and  siblings - I think in that order.  

I can see that others have said that the death in service will be linked to a DB pension scheme, but when dealing with my late brothers estate a few years ago, the death in service payment was dealt with completely separately from the pension and was definitely handled by an insurance company (Canada Life). He didn't have a DB pension, just a DC pot that was with a completely separate provider.  

Thanks.
Hopefully not up to her to provide the mothers and siblings addresses as they don't speak (their choice). She lives in Northern Ireland and they live in England so she wouldn't have that information.
His son is 27 and isn't dependent.