Corporate Pension & Legal Advice

Where should I go to get solicitors advice relating to a corporate Pension payout? Any recommendations for suitable solicitor would be much appreciated.

Basically a corporate Pension to the tune of £200k was held by a pension company for an ex employee of company A, ex employee died in his late 50’s never having drawn on the pension & pension company have paid the £200k to company A as they are the trustees of the pension. Ex employee was never married & had one adult daughter. Company A are saying they have taken legal advice and they can keep the money, not paying anything to either the daughter or the beneficiaries of ex employees will.

The directors of company A & the trustees of the corporate Pension are brother & sister in law to the ex employee, he hated them for pushing him out of the family business & if he weren’t already dead it would kill him to know they’ve snaffled the £200k – hence why I’d like to find out if this is all above board or if there is anything I can do.

if its a defineed benefit pension (which it sounds like) it depends on the rules of the scheme, which should be in the employee contract. Some have a death benefit that pays out to any dependent (which might not include an adult offspring), some only to a spouse, some to no-one, etc.

if its defined contribution, the money should be available to whomever the employee signed it over

I cannot offer any advice, but what would they do with the £200,000? Surely they can’t (legally) spend it as they are holding it in trust so it would just sit there forever?

I don’t have & doubt ex employee had a contract – he & brother were sons of the founder. And pretty sure nothing was ever signed over.

The claim is that it’s some sort of key person insurance clause so payable to the company and ultimately as dividends to directors no doubt, not sure how that works of it’s for an ex employee.

I wouldn’t mind if it had gone into a company pension pot but it has just been paid to company end of story, the solicitors that are dealing with his will have seemingly just rolled over, hence why I’d like to seek more professional advice & Google is not helping with the specifics on this one

IMO whoever are the ‘beneficiaries’ need to seek proper legal advice.

IMO whoever are the ‘beneficiaries’ need to seek proper legal advice.

That’s what I’m trying to do for them (executor to his will) but googling just comes up with either std solicitors or std pensions, I’m after finding a solicitor who is/maybe experienced in corporate pensions.

Have you had a chat with the Pensions Regulator

https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1920BhA3EiwAJT3lSeX0onlaxN2JJTUVSiQBB25k2YJKUz7uG_K0byjL2F4XonVIFFUo7BoCJFIQAvD_BwE

The claim is that it’s some sort of key person insurance clause.. 

Very popular in the US and is known as ‘dead peasants insurance’  – which sets the tone for corporate US. It’s an insurance to compensate a company for the inconvenience of an employee dying. It is not payable to the family of the deceased, it’s to help the company manage.

A pension is a closely regulated, legally bound savings scheme that will be maintained for the benefit of the employee.  It is very different, and is protected (thanks to Bob Maxwell)

Once these are clarified the way forward will be clear.

Pension’s law is pretty specialized, these are the lawyers who found tax too exciting, if you know any actuaries they should know where to find one.

Once these are clarified the way forward will be clear.

At one point it was with Legal & General called an “executive pension plan” so definitely a pension with a “pot” allocated to an individual.  I’ll try my pension provider and see if they can point me in the right direction, I understand that trustees of any pension have ultimate discretion in payments hence why pensions are generally not subject to inheritance tax but you’d think there should be reasonable action taken – some of the beneficiaries in his will are big charities so they may well be interested in chasing it further.

Some of the beneficiaries in his will are big charities

This debit charities may well have legal resources who are used to this sort of thing….worth approaching them maybe?

I’ve managed to get the number of my employers pension provider & they are going to look into it for me as it piqued their interest., if it gets legal I’m sure the charities involved will be interested. Thanks for advice all.

I cannot offer any advice, but what would they do with the £200,000? Surely they can’t (legally) spend it as they are holding it in trust so it would just sit there forever?

didn’t stop Captain Bob!