Pension beneficiaries muddle

[Upnorthnow]

Can any of you legal eagle give some advice on the following dilemna. My father recently died, leaving a generous pension. I am executor of of his estate so i followed up with the pension providers and they informed me that when he retired in 1999 he put his girlfriend at the time down as his benificiary, with my brother and I down as secondary beneficiaries (in case she died). This puzzled me as he has been separated from his girlfriend for the past 8 years, so I asked for a copy of the form. It was as they had said but I could not help but notice that the girlfriend who was named as benificiary was also the witness to the document. Is this legal?

From memory, the document that the member of the pension fund signs is merely an 'expression of wish'. It is not binding on their estate, and it's this lack of it being binding that stops it being a part of their estate. Therefore you do not need to be bound by it.

Hopefully, someone else will be along with more up to date/definite information. Otherwise, I'd take legal advice with a specialist - contact administrators of the pension scheme for starters.