Pension

[mumzy7xx]

good morning all hoping someone can help me.

How would I prove I was financially dependent on my late partner upon his death?

Died intestate, only 1 child our daughter who is 2. I am in the process of applying for probate with the solicitor to sell his house and gather up his estate to put into trust for our daughter.

One of his pensions does not fall into his estate and they want to pay in accordance and ask us to provide death certificate, daughters birth certificate and any joint accounts in our name.
There is no joint accounts.
I so far have all his mortgage/bank statements in his name.
And can provide evidence of me living there for the past 5 years will this be enough?

sorry for the long one , and if you did make it this far make a WILL for your children’s sake.

thank you

Bumping this post in the hope someone can help

You really need to speak to a solicitor about this

"And can provide evidence of me living there for the past 5 years will this be enough?"

I believe that it would be. You would have to demonstrate that you were, at least in part, financially dependant on him.

You would also have to demonstrate that you made some sort of contribution to the relationship. This could involve, for example, looking after your child, managing the household etc.
.

"...and gather up his estate to put into trust for our daughter."

Also, don't forget that money from the trust can be used for the education and maintenance of your child and doesn't have to be locked away entirely until they are 18.

Again, please speak to a solicitor who is experienced in this area and they will explain how you can use the trust money to help look after your child until they are 18.

There is a body called the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). Solicitors who are a member of this body will be very experienced in this area.

If you just google something like "STEP solicitor [name of your town]" then that should give you a list of solicitors in your area.

That 'education and maintenance' referred to by pp is quite wide reaching and could include things like nursery fees, before and after school clubs and school trips, extra curricular activities, holidays, a car, uni fees, a house deposit, a wedding among other things, although the last three would probably happen once your child has reached 18 so they would likely have access to the capital anyway. They will definitely have access to the income at 18.

Thank you yes all I have so far is a probate solicitor who said they can’t help me with much of it. Useful. I am trying to keep costs down right now. I understand I can claim on the estate.

My partner paid the bills the mortgage ect. So there wasn’t anything coming through in my name. All I will have is when I was added onto the council tax and my bank statements.

thank you for your response.

If you’re trying to sell his house, where are you living? The fact that you didn’t have any joint accounts or mortgage plus he paid all the bills could mean that the trustees of his insurance policy will not pay out to you.

If you have a birth certificate with your partners name, and are the beneficiary from the estate it is likely the pension company will accept that your daughter is a dependent and likely to pay out for her. Whether this means they might ‘hold’ it in trust for her I am not entirely sure.

Possibly so they might not do.

we are living in his property ,our home?

and we are selling the house because I can not afford nor do I know if I can take over the mortgage on my own income and a new single parent.

The house needs probate to be sold so no one will be selling it unless they are granted the probate by the courts

Yes I do and I don’t believe there has been any named beneficiary left they just sent me a letter explaining what I needed to provide in order to prove we was dependent on him. I would be surprised if it was paid to anyone other than our daughter as she is his only child he has left behind. So fingers crossed

Deepest sympathy for your loss. It's so hard when your DH dies.

I have been through this recently and even with his very simple will ('I leave everything to TarheelBaby'), it was/is complicated. Bank clerks know nothing about how to resolve accounts belonging to a deceased person. You will have to swot up and instruct them.

Be aware that if your DH had any ISAs, you can roll them into your name using APS (Additional Permitted Subscription) which exempts you from the normal 20k/annum rule for ISAs. (Most bank clerks won't know this or how to do it but it definitely can be done. I used Santander.)

Since your DH was intestate, I believe his estate will be divided between you and your DD. Her portion will probably be held in trust. This means that his house is half hers! So if you sell the house, half of the proceeds could then be held in trust for her and you won't be able to use it to buy a different property! Ideally, the trustees will be sensible and disburse funds to you for your DD's benefit...

Regarding his pension which was outside the estate, my DH had designated me the primary recipient but my DDs were also allocated a small percentage each. So find out whom he designated.
Because my DH died 'in service', there was also a lump sum payout from his employer and again, that was split between me and my DDs according to my DH's designations for his pension.

Good luck and lots of hugs!

Unfortunately we was infact Not married!
so technically legally I am in no part of any of it.
And also left his DM as the beneficiary of a life policy he took out when DD was 6 months old.
Naming his mum as a beneficiary of his life cover , not married , no will made and a house and LTD business. Has left us in a abit of a mess.

Although the solicitor has said I have a strong claim against the estate under the provisions for family act. So that gives me a little hope but that could vary from 60-90K in the estate

And also thank you and I’m so sorry to you too. 💐xxx

@mumzy7xx , ahh, that is indeed complicated and all the more miserable to fight for when you are missing/mourning your DP and your DD is so young.
I hope his DM uses his estate to help you support your DD.