Weird Letter from Pension trustees

[smintram]

Today, I received a very strange letter from the trustees of a large national transportation company's' Pension department. They refer to my Late brothers defined benefits pension, and asked me to send them my birth certificate for identification. They apologised for writing, stating that it must be a difficult time. Here's the thing....He died 21 years ago! (He was a bus driver, and died at 42) At first, I thought it must be some kind of a scam, but everything checks out. They even have his date of death on the reference. Surely it's unlikely that I am a beneficiary after all this time? Also, if I am, do they not also have to make adjustments for 21 years of interest on the withheld payment?

I would be interested to know if anyone may have any ideas on the matter....Thanks in advance.

[Sam101]

Surely a telephone call to the writer should clarify your doubts. Although it seems odd that this has happened so long after the death of your brother, as it is something that his executors should have sorted out, but give them a call first of all. Do not release any of your bank details to them even if they say they wish to send funds.

[smintram]

Thanks Sam101 that sounds sensible...To think that organizations like that can be that incompetent, is mind blowing.

[atticus]

have you contacted the people who wrote that letter to ask those questions?

[smintram]

They're closed over the weekend, but might call Monday...still need answer about interest, if anyone knows.

[Sam101]

The pension fund would still be growing in value over that time and you can ask for full details so don't worry about that. It is unfortunate that the executors were not up to the task, as legally they are responsible. Who were the executors of the estate, family, or professionals?

[atticus]

They might know about interest. Call them in office hours.

[smintram]

Sam101 That is good to hear. He was single, rented from the council, had no assets. My elder brother dealt with his funeral, and his bank account etc, so guessing he acted as executor to a degree, but as always, he would only have been interested in covering the cost of the funeral. Seems he must have over-looked the pension, unless he did, and they wouldn't give him any information, if he had a nominee appointed....Don't know...it's all very strange. I would have thought there was a period of time allowed for it to be claimed.

[Sam101]

If I may suggest, it would be prudent to ascertain who was actually appointed as executor if there was a Will, or who applied for the letters of administration to deal with the estate, as there needs to be someone who accepts responsibility.. The records would be available at the Probate office so a phone call could help you with this.

When you get to the stage of obtaining details of the pension, do check carefully that the pension has increased since death and by what amount. The beneficiaries will need to be established as this may be a large amount that needs to be dealt with correctly and the pension administrators will need to know who the appointed representative is as they will need to pay the amount through them only.

[des8]

You can check probate records here: https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

It could well be that your elder brother dealt with your deceased's brother's estate without a grant of probate or letters of administration.
If there was no real property or stocks and shares a grant would probably not have been needed.

Have you spoken to your elder brother about this?

[smintram]

There is no record of probate, so as you say des8 it wasn't needed. My elder brother is a very selfish and greedy man, and we don't talk, I'm afraid. I can only think that because there was no probate therefore, the the pension trustees were flying alone on this. and Sam101 I though that nominees would only be paid 2 to 4 times of their salary anyway, regardless of the pot size.

[des8]

Sounds as if pension trustees have only just found out about your brother's passing, and have possibly used a tracing company to locate you.

Whilst you (or your elder brother) may not need a grant of letters of administration to deal with the pension, it might have an IHT liability

[smintram]

I Don't really know...I read somewhere that if he was under 75 and died in service, which he did, then the lump sum to a nominee would be tax free....and also that it wouldn't be classed as part of his estate.

[des8]

and we won't know either as we don't know any details about the pension or the size of your late brother's estate.

The pension administrators should be able to point you in the right direction

[smintram]

I shall call today, and hopefully shed some light on it...I hope it wasn't just a big mistake on their part.