What happens to old private pensions if you die before retirement?

[henryhoover2]

Posted in money also but posting here for traffic

Ok so after 4 stressful months since my mother died I was finally ready to fill in the application for letter of administration.
I've got the details I need for the most recent pension but then I suddenly remembered she worked somewhere else years ago for a good few years
The place she worked has probably changed hands numerous times since so I've no idea who the pension would be with
Is there any point looking into this or should I just send the form and be done with it?

I thought it was paid out to next of kin. I know on mine it states that my death benefit if I'm still working is more than if I'm retired and passed to next of kin. Hopefully someone legal will answer you, but just contact the solicitor of the will as they should know.

When I've had to do this sort of thing, I've given all the relevant information to the solicitor dealing with the estate. They then write to everybody informing them of the death and asking for the funds to be paid into their client account. Once everything is finalised, then the proceeds of the estate are distributed according to the will.

The only time this may be different is if a specific person(s) is named on the pension as to who would receive it.

To be honest, I'd get a solicitor to do it all.

Try the Pension Tracing Service www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

It's a government service

There was no will unfortunately
She wasn't married so no one gets the current (nhs) pension
Not sure if there would be anything different with old pensions from previous jobs . I Don't even know where to start trying to find out who the pension company will be .
I have a feeling that nothing will be due to the estate but on the off chance that there is then it will need declaring to hmrc as part of the application

I've emailed the current owners . Other than that I'm not sure what else I can do. I don't have have any paper work

It depends if she filled out an expression of wish. I don't think there is anyway of finding out without contacting the pension administrators, if you don't have the paperwork.

Well I've just had quite a rude reply back to email saying they can't give out that sort of information so not much I can do now so will just have to leave it

Some organisations are just rubbish and unhelpful at these awful times. I still get letters from one place addressed to 'executor of the estate of(my mum) deceased' over 10 years after she died because they 'could not proceed without her signature'. Me telling them that I couldn't get her signature because she was dead had no effect.
Sorry for your loss, OP

She wasn't married so no one gets the current (nhs) pension

Surely she filled in Expression of Wish, which means she could leave it to.
someone else?

Re the e mail, it's rubbish that they can't provide info, but you will need to provide a death cert. Your solicitor will deal with it.

It's not so easy @StarbucksSmarterSister I went through this stuff when my mum died. She hadn't prepared at all, lots of people don't.

She didn't nominate anyone on the pension either
I really would advise anyone to get their affairs in order no matter how old they are after having to deal with this. It's had me so stressed at times

It depends on the Ts and Cs of the individual pension scheme.

• some have provision for a death in service benefit and she would have had to have nominated the beneficiary via the expression of wish form. N.B. this is not automatically the next of kin nor beneficiary of the will, of there is one. It also allows pension fund trustees the discretion to pay out in the event someone hasn't made a nomination or kept it up to date

• some have provision for a spouse or child's pension to be paid

• many do actually just die with the person