Pension Death Benefits

Pensions can grow into significant assets given time, often overtaking even the value of your home with the right investment selection. However, the fate of these assets at death may not be as you would expect. Until the time comes to actually take benefits from the pension, the trustee of the scheme will be the legal owner of the pension assets. That being the case, they have discretion over how this property is distributed in the event of death, unless directed otherwise. This may not be in keeping with the wishes of the investor. Moreover, given the significant values that pension assets can confer, this may also inadvertantly create a liability to inheritance tax which can easily be avoided for the sake of filling out a simple form.

It is important to keep up to date with where pension benefits will go in the event of death and how this changes if you change provider or employer or if your family circumstances change e.g. marriage, death of a spouse, divorce or insolvency. Furthermore, recent changes in pension legislation have augmented death benefits from pensions in some situations. This simple ‘housekeeping’ issue is one aspect of your overall affairs that your Glasgow Wealth adviser will take care of as a matter of course to make sure that your wishes are adhered to in the event of your demise before or after retirement.