Advice regarding my late fathers estate.

[Guest]

My father passed away on 01/02/2020 aged 58. My sister and I have been dealing with everything involved in his passing including arranging and paying for the funeral and clearing his estate. My dad didn't have much money in the bank and not much in the way of valuable assets, however he did have a company pension with his employer issued by NEST and also a group life assurance policy which pays out a lump sum death in service payment. His employer has informed me that my dad had put my sister and myself down as beneficiaries to this but there are no names beneficiaries to the pension. My dad was still married to my mum however they had split up almost 10 years ago and not been in contact and not living together. My mother has also no been a big part of my sisters or my life for the lat 10 years and she did not get involved in anything relating to the passing of my dad. My dad did not leave a will and because of this I believe the laws of intestacy apply which means my mum is entitled to receive his money and assets. Does this include his pension and life assurance payment? Although he put us down as beneficiaries to this it has been passed to a group of trustees who are deciding how best to allocate the funds. My sister and I are worried that our mum will end up getting all the pension pot and the death in service payment and know that our dad wouldn't have wanted this. Because my mum and dad never got round to formally divorcing does that mean she can inherit all of these benefits, and is there any way my sister and I can contest this?

[ostell]

The trustees of the death in service benefit will take notice of your father's wishes but are not obliged to follow them. Make sure that the trustees are aware of the (un) marital status. She will probably be entitled to a pension, not the pension pot, probably about 50% of your fathers pension entitlement. The company, knowing the situation may decide not to pay her anything

You may be able to claim from the estate as dependants of your father.* Others know better about this.

*

[des8]

Condolences on your loss.

Under intestacy rules you are correct that everything passes to your mother.
The trustees of the pension fund probably have absolute discretion regarding allocation of the funds.

I would suggest first talking to your mother to ask if she is willing to make reasonable provision for you and your sister from your late father's estate.
If you can come to an agreement, obtain it in writing and witnessed so it is legally binding.
If she declines you could make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975*