Pension question

[UCOforAC12]

If someone is 75, has been taking a regular income from their e.g. £1m pension since 65 and dies aged 76, what happens to the pension pot if they aren't married?

It depends on the individual pension but mine (not £1m!) would be lost if it's been drawing on it for more than 5 years.

Depends on the pension. If there is no named beneficiary, mine would be part of my estate and I have a Will in place which states how my estate is split between my family members.

If it is a Defined Contribution pension (eg a pot of money to be drawn down, not a fixed income for life) than the individual can nominate a beneficiary (or several beneficiaries, or a charity or trust arrangement). On death, the pension is paid out to the nominated beneficiaries and is considered outside of the estate for inheritance tax purposes (with a few rare exemptions).
This is done at the discretion of the pension trustees so if it is contested (e.g nominated to an ex spouse or someone who has already died) the money might be paid out to the main estate to be sorted out there.

My mum did something to hers so that it would come to us, can't remember what exactly but she's drawn down a sum and the rest now will become part of her estate. Otherwise it would have been lost on death.

Yes if it was a draw down one and there was a single beneficiary named in the will and there was e.g. £200k left in the pot at the time of death.

A beneficiary can be registered direct with the pension company, completely separate to the will

@BeastOfBODMAS

A beneficiary can be registered direct with the pension company, completely separate to the will

I didn't know that thank you