A friend of mine has been sadly widowed
Her husband was still working when he died
She has been given half his pension although he said he wanted her to have it ( but didn’t put it in writing ) the other half has gone to his three adult children from a previous marriage who are all in high paying occupations .
How can this be ?
I understand most pensions are only awarded to the spouse not children especially grown up children .
Can anyone explain this ?
I can only assume it was a private pension that formed part of his estate . He died intestate.
1 Like
Hi Muddy
Sorry to hear about your friend.
If he didn’t fill in a Expression of Wish Form then I think it automatically goes to the spouse,kids.
''An expression of wish is a document that allows the account holder to nominate a beneficiary/ies in the event of the account holder’s death"
If UK pension funds are anything like SA pension funds, then the Trustees of the fund investigates the level of dependency and makes a decision accordingly. I’m not sure of the UK law but even with a dependent/beneficiary form completed, these are taken into consideration and not what the Trustees ultimately decide on. The trustees of the pension fund have the ultimate say.
When I was a trustee, we usually assessed and took a decision to pay all dependents a percentage of the pension to avoid litigation sometimes regardless of the level of dependency.
If he died intestate ( not knowing their marital regime) then payout follows per stirpes I am not certain of the laws in the UK but South Africa has a mixed legal system - a hybrid of Roman Dutch civilian law, English common law, customary law and religious personal law. The Roman Dutch civilian law and English common law influence reflects South Africa’s history of successive colonial governance by the Dutch and English.
A mouthful of nothing above but does UK law have a piece of legislation similar to Maintenance of surviving spouse. She could fall back on that based on the marital regime.
Yet another instance why you should map out your financial plan and know what the impact will be on you as a women.
So sorry Muddy - I know the SA laws not certain how different it is up there.
Disclaimer: this is not financial advice. Consult an authorised financial advisor.
Big hug :hug:
This is an example form.
Called a dependent/nominee/beneficiary form in SA
If it’s an expression of wish form then that already tells me that the Trustees will consider the members wishes but make the final decision - just as we do in SA
Thanks Roj
I have my private pension managed by my solicitor, should anything happen to me then my wife gets what’s left, we’ve also just recently made a will …
And there is the nub of the problem. If he didn’t make his wishes known, the estate will go to spouse and immediate family. Traditionally, even without a will, the marital home will go to the surviving spouse. In this case, because it is a pension it was divided up as fifty percent to the spouse, the remaining fifty percent divided equally between surviving children. Presumably this is the lump sum payment, and she still gets a monthly pension?
I have requested (in an online form) that any remaining sum left from my superannuation be divided equally among my children however this is not binding on the trustees though they do state that they will try to follow your wishes.
Have no idea what else they would do with the money.
I remember this is a clause that was part of my “Expression of Wishes” form I signed when I joined my last company’s pension scheme. Hopefully, V gets ½ of my company pension when I pop off. Likewise, she did the same for me.
We made our wills (what are commonly known as “mirror wills”) soon after we married, although I had already written one that left everything I owned to V soon after we started living together. We update them regularly as our circumstances change.
I don’t know Judd as he was still working and not claiming it .
I can’t think why he didn’t have a will I have had a will since my first child was born .
The spouse of someone who dies intestate only gets the first £270000 of the house ( and it’s worth over £500k ) this sounds a lot but in fact in that area is average. It a very ordinary house .These are the rules of intestacy.
She will also be entitled to half of what is left .
So if the house sells for 500k
And there is 230k left she is entitled to £115k of this .
( hopefully)
So she will get £385k which sounds a lot but doesn’t buy much in Surrey when all the agents fees etc are taken into account.
So she has to move out somewhere else she also gets all the personal possessions but she already gave them away to his children.
My poor friend feels so betrayed she is a good person she met their father long after he had been divorced from his first wife and they are all grown up and doing extremely well.
At first they said they didn’t want his pension and then they changed their minds .
Usually if you have already retired and claiming a pension it can only go to the spouse . The reason being that if it went to the children the pension company would be paying out for decades.
So important to have a will in place .
She is now ill herself and not able to work I do t know how she will go on .She is 60+ but is not yet at retiring age
Muddy, make sure your friend has a valid Will in place asap to prevent any problems down the line.
I hope that she will.
There are still issues re all this I don t understand .
I revise my own will every five years .
I don t want to leave problems for my children but as in every second marriage with children on both sides it’s not straightforward.