Is this Mum stealing from her sons?

[Vanillarose1]

Sorry for the emotive title but I have my suspicions that this is exactly what MIL is doing.

DH's dad died in the 80s while working for a charitable foundation, leaving behind 3 sons - 15,13 and 9. He was a popular figure so they kindly set up an ongoing index-linked payment to support his family. This is unusual in itself as I've only ever heard of lump sum death in service payments.

The payments went to DH's Mum even though she had been divorced from his dad for some time. Makes sense as the boys were still young. However, she is still getting these payments to this day. They are now in the region of £1500 per month - they do not go to the sons. In fact, she used the money to retire at 40. She has no money worries which is not the case for her sons.

Surely the money should have been going to the sons once they reached 18? She wasn't a dependent - they were divorced! How can she still be benefiting from his death 45 years later? Something is definitely not right here and she refuses to show anyone the paperwork.

Is there anything that can be done?

But that would not go to his ex wife surely

My mum got my dad’s pension after he died. Surely this is all this is. Even though they were divorced if your mil’s name was on the policy it would go to her.

A pension from back then will almost certainly be the DB type and index linked so yes, it would increase every year.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear! What I meant was that he could contact this charitable organisation and explain who he is, who his father was, and what his understanding is of the arrangement. He could then ask them to look into the matter and confirm to him whether the payments were intended for the children or for the ex-wife. If the money was intended for the dc and only being paid to her because the dc were under age, then they can then decide on a course of action.

There is definitely a possibility that it is not a pension. Our workplace had something similar in place until a few years ago. It is basically an insurance policy which a company can take out which will pay the beneficiary a monthly income from the deceased persons salary. Our company struggled to find an insurer to do this (as it is not as common anymore) so we now have an increased company pension plus 4x annual salary if you die in service.
I would definitely enquiry with the employer as they likely have someone who is the administrator of such a scheme and they can advise.