Mum able to claim dad's pension?

[bottersnike]

Hello any lovely mumsnet experts out there!
Usually I an quite good at this money stuff, but I can't find the answer to my question on any of the usual DWP etc websites.

In brief - my dad died last year. He was 62, and therefore not claiming State Pension.
My mum was 61 at the time, and already claiming State Pension.
My question - is she entitled to a portion of his pension, now or in 2011 ( when he would have been 65 ), given that he had made enough NI contributions over his working life?

Thank you for any help

have you tried the directgov ws? I remember there was loads of stuff about inheritance probate etc when we needed it

tried there, it answered lots of other questions, just not this one!

Try here

It doesn't answer my questions unfortunately! I would like to get as much info as possible before suggesting my mum calls anyone with specifics as she gets understandably upset.
Thank you

see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/dmg/pdf/ch75.pdf here

"Women widowed after attaining pensionable age

75134 A woman widowed after attaining pensionable age1 is entitled to a Cat B RP on her
late husband?s contributions if

1. she was married to him when he died2 and
2. he had satisfied the relevant contribution conditions3 and
3. she makes a claim."

she needs to contact the Pension Service

My mum receives a higher pension cos my dad died just before his 62nd birthday but she was 4 years older than him so don't know if your mum would have to wait till 2011, but she should be entitled to a portion of his pension, my dad died over 10 years ago so things could have changed. I can ask my mum where she got the info from if you like but won't be until tomorrow evening, maybe someone else with more recent knowledge will be along soon.

link didn't work

here it is again...

Inthepink, if you can find out any more information, that would be fabulous.
Link was really useful, BetsyBoop, thank you, even if that leaflet is very confusing

bottersnike - she just needs to ring the Pension Service & they will sort it out

That wasn't a leaflet - it's the "Decision Maker's Guide" - ie the rules that the DWP staff use to decide who is entitled to what - that's why it's in gobblydegook