Uk Pensions And Death

[VTR1000]

If a British man dies, can or how does his legal wife claim a part of his pension? Unfortunately, last week a 69 yr old friend of mine unexpectedly passed away leaving behind a wife and three young children. Does anyone know if there are any avenues his wife should follow?

Thanks in advance

[happylarry]

I personally have registered my Thai wife with my company pension scheme and have also got the company to send me a letter agreeing that my wife will receive 50% of my pension when I pop off, just to make things easier for her when that time inevitably comes.

But that doesnt help in this case.....I guess the first thing to do is telephone the pension provider, which of course needs to be done anyway to let them know of your friends demise, and ask them how to go about claiming her widows pension.

They will obviously need a copy of his death certificate and also marriage certificate, id cards etc.

Hope this helps???????

HL

[marshbags]

If a British man dies, can or how does his legal wife claim a part of his pension? Unfortunately, last week a 69 yr old friend of mine unexpectedly passed away leaving behind a wife and three young children. Does anyone know if there are any avenues his wife should follow?

Thanks in advance

Is this the government state pension VTR ? as i note HL is answering from a private company point of view.

Any pension advice is of course helpful, but if it,s the U.K Government OAP then it probably has different arrangements in place.

There is of course a dedicated government web site for pensions :-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBen...ement/index.htm

I hope this may provide you with the information you need in addition to more imput from experienced members.

marshbags

Edited October 30, 2008 by marshbags

[JohnC]

this is a complex issue which will need professional advcie from the appropriate govt dept. http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/contac...ct-pod-form.asp

The reason I say this is because a number of factors will need to be considered: Did her husband have a fully paid up UK state pension? how long were they married? what si her age? are the children his? is she a National of a different country? So as you see it is almost impossible to give a definitive answer here so I recommend she contact the appropriate authorities on the above link. If she perceives a problem in talking long distance in english it might be worth contacting the British Embassy for help, Im sure thye have come across this many times. In the event the op is talking about a private pension then she needs to contact the provider as previous poster recommends.

[sassienie]

If we are talking about a UK state pension here, than your wife cannot claim any part of your pension in the event of your death.

She would be eligable for a widows pension only if she was of pensionable age (60) at the time of your death and this is means tested.

[dumball]

If we are talking about a UK state pension here, than your wife cannot claim any part of your pension in the event of your death.

She would be eligable for a widows pension only if she was of pensionable age (60) at the time of your death and this is means tested.

I tried to apply for marriage allowance for my Khymer wife and was informed they would only pay IF my wife went with me to take up residence in the UK .They also stipuated that should she leave the country for any reason , those payements would only continue for 6 months , so i (only) imagine death payments would come under the same ruling .

[sumrit]

If we are talking about a UK state pension here, than your wife cannot claim any part of your pension in the event of your death.

She would be eligable for a widows pension only if she was of pensionable age (60) at the time of your death and this is means tested.

Once she has reached retirement age a widow is entiled to a state pension on the back of her husbands contributions if she doesn't have

any/enough contributions of her own to qualify.

I believe a widows pension is payable if she is over 45 when her husband dies, not 60, but it is means tested (basicly you don't get it if

you're working). Friends of mine clarified thiswith the DWP last year when they moved to Thailand. He is 69 but his wife is only 29 and they

were told she would be entitled to a widowspension providing he lives for another 16 years. I'm not 100% sure but I think the widow would

also need a NI number.

Edited November 1, 2008 by sumrit

[sumrit]

I tried to apply for marriage allowance for my Khymer wife and was informed they would only pay IF my wife went with me to take up residence in the UK .They also stipuated that should she leave the country for any reason , those payements would only continue for 6 months , so i (only) imagine death payments would come under the same ruling .

I think you are entitled to a marriage allowance for your wife even if you're not living in the UK. As I've said in another post on this thread a friend gets it and they both live in Thailand.

In other threads on this forum previously people have said they were successful in getting this allowance although the UK DWP make it difficult for people not living in the UK and it's taken up to two years or more for some to get it, and it's not restricted to six months payments so try again. What they will do is freeze your pension at the level it was when you left the UK and you won't get any annual increases unless you return to the UK to live. The length of time out of the UK before they decide you are living abroad could well be six months although I thought it was three.

[dumball]

The easy way out of this is to just keep drawing his pension at the ATM , for all the people like me that they abuse , they can afford to pay her .I used to be against this kind of thing , but due to my PERSONAL misreatment , i would say 'Go for it '.