Tracing Past Adresses

[PeterPeterson]

I'm going to attempt to keep this concise to avoid confusion.

Background: DP's father passed away in 2013, DP and his dad were not close, his dad split up from DMIL when DP was small, remarried, no further children, then divorced. No further significant partners or relationships at the time when he died. DP had a sister who passed away in her early twenties before dad, no other siblings.
When he died dad was in his late 50's and it was unexpected, DP dealt with everything at the time, closed the accounts he was aware of, sorted house to give back to landlord and organised funeral. Dad didn't have much in the way of money and DP had to use his own savings for the funeral.

Fast forward 8 years, a couple of months ago DP receives a letter out of the blue from a pension provider explaining that they are trying to find his dad's personal reps as they have been made aware by DWP that he has passed away and there is a policy with them. We complete forms and return back. More forms arrive asking for details of children, marriages, death certificate etc. Again we complete and send back. They have now contacted again to ask us to provide the previous addresses for dad. We have no idea, DP hadn't seen his dad for a number of years before he died and their contact was very limited and at times nonexistent.
Is there any way we can find his dad's previous addresses? I have tried an electoral roll search but cannot seem to find anything even though his name was very unique, I have even used a paid for search but that also returned no results.
I appreciate the pension provider needs to be thorough in their checks but if we genuinely cannot get this information can they refuse to pay out to DP who is now the only heir to any of the estate?

I'm guessing it's the "death-in-service" element of his work pension. Because he died young before he could claim the pension himself, rather than just pocketing everything he paid in the pension provider makes a payout. It's usually in their discretion who they pay. The dead person may have left an expression of their wishes. But even that is not binding on the pension trustees. They have to see who is left behind and make a judgment call. (It usually passes outside of any will, and not subject to the intestacy rules either).

If you two really are his only family, and he wasn't supporting or living with anyone else then I don't see how they can't pay it to you. I'm guessing that they just want to establish that you actually knew him rather than just happening to have the same name as the people they're trying to trace? If you knew his previous address that would suggest you did. I think maybe you just need to write to them explaining the history, and perhaps you can prove the connection via a birth certificate or other documents?

There are a couple of options you may be able to pursue if the electoral roll hasn’t helped. The difficulty is going back 8 years +, as GDPR means most organisations cleared out historical data and may mean even if they have the data they won’t release it. They are worth a letter/email.

• HMRC
• DWP, if he received benefits
• DVLA , if he had a drivers licence.
• GP
• Former employer payroll records
• Local Authority/council tax - if he moved within the same area they may have records.
• utility providers e.g water, tv licence, gas, electric etc.

HTH

Bank

I’m not certain but I thought it was up to the trustees to ensure their investigation is thorough, rather than up to you to do it for them, though providing them with the information may speed up any payout.

Have you tried calling and telling them it isn’t information your DP’s dad ever provided you with and asking what the ramifications are if you just put down the last address you do know?

I just thought I'd come back with a little update, so we still haven't found all his past addresses but have found the address which is registered with the pensions company with sheer luck and determination on my part and we also have his address he was living at when he died. We are awaiting a call back from them now to discuss this and explain we are unable to provide anything else.
My mum raised a fair point, most people won't remember addresses from a few years ago let alone when it's been 8.5 years since he died. We have my partners birth certificate with his dad named on there too, we are now hoping even a small amount will come our way to pay towards our wedding. As DP put it "he may have been an arsehole when he was alive but he may finally do me a favour now he's gone", thanks for your suggestions all!