Pension and death in service payouts

[IAmALionTamer]

My FIL passed away 6 weeks ago. He was quite young, was the main breadwinner, had not retired and still had few years left on the mortgage.

I have been trying to support MIL by assisting with paperwork. She is the named executor in his Will but is a bit out of her depth with it all. I’ve taken the reins where I can but I’m finding things ever so slow particularly with his pensions providers. We have provided all of the information that they have asked for in terms of certificates and a copy of the Will, and have been informed that the trustees will review and make a decision The longer things take the more my MIL worries that the pension money or death in service benefit won’t pay out and that she’ll be saddled with mortgage and living costs that she can not afford.

Can anyone provide any guidance or insight with regards to how long these things take? Any guidance appreciated

The only timescale that I can give you is that at my place of work if you are retiring it takes 3 months to sort it all out. I would hope in bereavement cases it would be a lot swifter.

There’s no reason to think she won’t get paid out if it’s part of his benefit package.
My husbands death in service was paid out within about a month, the pension took longer, they wanted to wait for details of inquest, which was about 6 months.
Have you spoken to HMRC to see what she is entitled to ?

Sorry for your loss OP.

My dad died unexpectedly and whilst in full time employment. His employer (big national company) contacted me as I was named as the benefactor of his pension, and they sent somebody from their bereavement team to my home to talk me through the process. They were very kind, I wasn't expecting much as my brother and I were both over 18, but we were pleasantly surprised. I really didn't have to do much, the lady who visited me asked a few questions about our financial circumstances and the trustees took about six weeks to make a decision. Once they did, I had the money in my account pretty much straight away.

If your FIL was a member of a union, they may be able to provide some guidance, we also had a bereavement payment of about £700 from them.

If paying the mortgage is a concern, she should ring the mortgage company and ask for a payment holiday. They have specialist bereavement teams and will be understanding/helpful. Essentially she has a temporary cash flow problem if she's waiting for his death in service payment, etc. I'm sorry for your loss.

His HR department should help out - the policy is taken by the company with your FIL as named cover. The company should provide support on this as its their policy (though they may never / very rarely have encountered the situation). The reason it’s not automatic is that they will have to check that cause of death is not excluded under the policy (self inflicted overdoses / drink or drug driving / suicide), though they can be pretty lenient in interpretation if alcohol / drugs are involved (a friend of mi e still received a payout in circumstances that could have been linked to alcohol)

Death in service lump sum is paid at the discretion of the trustees, this makes it free of inheritance tax. If your MIL was named beneficiary and there are no other claimants it’s simply a formality.
Most pension schemes pay DIS benefits quickly and some will even make a payment before benefits have been finalised to ease financial hardship.

Check for union membership.

Mine is £10k death in service. I filled in the form to pay it to my nominated person so it’s ready should I die.