money left in a pension to me

[Elic]

A friend of mine killed himself and left on a piece of paper that he wanted me to have his £30,000 pension.

His brother is saying unfortunately its invalid because it is not in his will. I could really use the money any advice where I go from here?

I don't want to appear insensitive to his brother but if I am entitled to the money then I don't see why not. My friend hadn't spoken to his brother for years.

Please advise and thank you.

I am sorry for your loss.

I am not a lawyer but I'd hazard a guess that note on a piece of paper prior to someone's tragic suicide wouldn't invalidate a legally drawn up and witnessed will and would be very easy for the brother to challenge. Your friend had the choice to update their will and they decided against it.

You'd be best off taking specialist legal advice if you really want to pursue it.

This is nuanced, to say the least.

Had your friend left a proper will, witnessed by a solicitor? Did that specify that his pension should go to someone else?

Did his pension ask for the details of whom he'd like it to be paid too if he died? Whose details had he provided then?

There are circumstances where a note left before suicide will be taken into account but its complex, and it could get expensive fighting. If the brother has a signed, professionally drawn up will, he will probably be confident taking you to court to say that his brother was not in sound mind and therefore the original will should stand.

It's probably worth getting legal advice because £30,000 is a lot of money.

Sorry for your loss. If there is a death benefit it is assigned to a nominated person on the policy, usually next of kin which may be his brother in this case. However suicide may invalidate the policy unfortunately, so the executor or a solicitor needs to check with the company what the situation is. Then you would need legal advice as to whether any challenge is likely to be upheld.

A will needs to be witnessed by people who do not stand to benefit from it and the writer needs to declare that they are in sound mind.

A piece of paper is unlikely to be enough.

Sorry for your loss.

When a pension is set up people are asked to nominate a beneficiary for just these circumstances.

However when it comes to pay out this is not set in stone. The trustees of the pension will decide who the money goes to. You need a pretty strong case as to why you deserve this money more than the brother.

Hi I'm not a lawyer, so someone more helpful will undoubtedly come along, but I work in the pensions industry so my little bit of knowledge may help.

Your friend may have nominated you as a beneficiary on the pension, that means he has told the pension provider (usually his employer or a pensions company) that he wants you to have the money, even if he didn't express it separately in his will. It's normal for the pension provider to ask for this 'expression of wish' when the pension is set up although there is no obligation on the individual to provide it.

If your friend has 'expressed a wish', then the pension trustees (the provider, effectively) don't have to follow his wish but they would usually do so. An exception might be, for example, when following the expressed wish meant that a dependant was cut out of the benefits but ime it would be followed through in most cases.

If your friend hasn't expressed a wish to the pension provider, then the piece of paper that you mention may still be relevant and the trustees may still be prepared to consider it, it depends what the piece of paper is. If you know who the executors of your friends will are, it's worth asking them to check with the pension provider whether an expression of wish was lodged with them. You could approach the provider directly but I think it's likely that data protection limitations would prevent them sharing the information with you unless you are the nominated beneficiary.

I'm personally aware of an instance where an individual has approached a provider directly and ultimately received the pension benefits although there was no expression of wish lodged. There was other information that supported the claim but it fell short of the pension member writing it down.

Sorry that's long, hope it helps.

Thanks for your messages. He left the rest of his money (400k) to 2 other friends in his will. His pension he forgot to include in the will hence the piece of paper which wasn't dashed off just before killing himself. It was all planned. He told me many times before his death that he wanted me to have his pension. He was of sound mind, (the lawyers have told the brother not to bother contesting the will) he had capacity he just didn't want to live any more. He did not like his family hence why he left them nothing. I have no idea when the note was dated. thanks

Ah, that makes it a bit clearer.

Is the brother the executor of the will?

yes brother and friend are executors of the will.

Pensions aren't normally put into a will, but as an expression of wishes as pp's have said.

It's just a 'wish' as if it's more concrete, then it could become an IHT issue asfaik.

TB is right; pensions are almost always held on discretionary trusts and don't form part of the estate, therefore aren't dealt with by the will. This is in order to avoid those assets being liable for inheritance tax.

The reason it's a discretionary trust is that the trustees of the scheme have discretion to follow the expressed wishes of the deceased. They generally do so but it isn't written in stone.

The procedure for a change of beneficiary for life insurance/death in service/pensions is for the person to nominate a new beneficiary by filling in a nomination form and sending it to the trustees of the scheme. If he didn't nominate you then I'm afraid you will have an uphill struggle to persuade the trustees of the pension scheme that you have a claim, but that will depend on who was nominated as beneficiary originally.

It all comes down to what he completed and sent to his work pension people on the form (the pension falling outside the estate if he did that). Also if you kill yourself you don't always get your death benefits by the way so don't assume he will get any life insurance element at least.

Trustees of the pension or plan administrator will have a duty to consider the members wishes. They also will have a duty to consider other potential beneficiaries. They may wish to examine the relationships in place and evidence of financial dependence or interdependence. They may wish to consider whether there is a will. The date of an expression of wishes or beneficiary form may also be considered. E.g if it was written to an ex partner, never updated but there was a new financially dependant partner the trustees may consider that they could place more weight on recent circumstances.

I'd find out who the pension administrator is and what te process is that they will follow.