What will my wife get after I'm gone? UK work pension.

[ChrisKC]

On 10/1/2021 at 11:04 AM, LongTimeLurker said:

Your wife will receive nothing in the way of UK State Pension benefits.

 

And I believe they have also stopped the lump sum Bereavement Benefit.

This is true of the UK state pension for both lump sum and monthly- it ceased before 2016. If any husband ceased before 2016 no problem!

[nglodnig]

In a way this makes perfect sense. If I pop my clogs just after marrying a sixteen year girl (not that I'm thinking of that ???? )  the pension fund could be paying out for fifty, sixty years or more. Your pension payment is assessed according to your expected life span; getting a much younger wife knocks that completely out of the park.

 

My (Swiss) company pension has a widows payment defined as 70% - but  to a named person - who will receive this even if we divorce (God forbid).

 

Intrestingly enough, I was looking at the Swiss state pension, and widows there receive a reduced sum (again approx 2/3) for life. Of course, like most state pensions it is starting to creak and this could well change in the next ten or twenty years, just like it did in the UK - where the widows pension is now non-existent. 

[Andycoops]

Most schemes have this rule, check with the pension trustees or administration.

[Letseng]

On 10/1/2021 at 4:48 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

I don't think so. Women have to make contributions to their own State pension. Women in the UK have equality ????

Depends on when you got married. System changed some time ago. Think she will get a one-off payment.

[Letseng]

On 10/18/2021 at 4:39 PM, ChrisKC said:

This is true of the UK state pension for both lump sum and monthly- it ceased before 2016. If any husband ceased before 2016 no problem!

Yes.

[Chomper Higgot]

“Some years ago I asked my pension provider how much monthly my wife will get once I die. If I recall right they said 45% of what I was getting before I died. To spoil it all I was told today that it has since changed and they will only pay her proportionately due the 25 year age difference. I hope I've explained that correctly? Is it true?”

 

It is not unusual for company pension schemes to ratio the dependent’s pension based on age difference.

 

However, membership of a company pension scheme is a contract and while the pension fund is governed by Trust Law, the terms of membership, rates of contribution and due benefits are covered by Contract Law.

 

I recommend you review what you were told and when you were told against the pension fund rules.

 

If initially your wife was, after your death, entitled to 45% of your monthly  pension, this is a benefit you paid for with your contributions,

 

If at sometime later the pension changed that % then the contract changed but it cannot be changed retro-actively, your wife’s rights to 45% up-to the point of a rule change would remain.

 

Your pension would then have two sets of ‘wife’s rights’.

 

Example:

 

If you were an active member for 25 years and the rules changed in the 20th year.

 

Your wife would have 20years of pension rights at 45% under old rules and 5 years at some reduced ratio under new rules.

 

Note: Once your pension is in payment the rules cannot be changed.

 

There is however one other explanation, it might be the ratio always existed but was never explained.

 

Write to your pension trustees for an explanation.

 

Ask for the specific rule and confirmation of when that rule was written into the pension rules.

 

Better still, if you have any written confirmation of 45% without any ratio reductions.

 

In which case, keep that to yourself for the time being,  still write, get the trustees to confirm the history of the rule and then if there is a mismatch go back with your evidence.

 

I trust you have named your wife in your ‘expression of wishes’ if not do so, and consider adding a statement that you wish the trustees to consider that beyond your pension your wife has no access to government welfare support.

 

 

[JamesH]

I have two works pensions and a Veterans UK pension, all of which will pay a reduced pension to my Thai wife. Will the fact that my wife does not have a UK National Insurance Number make any difference in her receiving the pensions in Thailand?