The Dept of Pensions wrote to a lady telling her that....

[sandyRoe]

she was now eligible for a widows pension.
She had been seperated from her husband for many years.
Would the pensions dept give details of that mans place and date of death, if I wrote to them?

[dzug2]

They won't tell you anything

If the lady wrote they might.

The rough date she'll know (or be able to work out) from when the pension started

[Old_Geezer]

Probably not. But with this sort of stuff I tend to take the view that if you don't try, you don't get surprised. Naturally your best bet is to speak to the widow if possible.

[dotty.]

The Dept of Pensions must have been able to identify her and where she lived even though the couple had been seperated and seemingly (from your post content) lost touch. They must have been able to check previous records to do that, it's also amazing to me that they were able to show she was still legally married to him. It's quite interesting that aspect, as she could have been living with someone else for all that time seperated and also her estranged husband could have been living with someone else as man and wife nut that woman would not have been entitled to the widow's pension. interesting one.