can widow inherit some/all of husband's pension?

[tildakovach]

Could anyone please tell me if a woman can inherit her dead husband's pension, or is entiteld to a any part of it?
Also if I lived abroad for almost 15 yrs, and now return, am I still entitled to basic pension and how much is it?
thank you for any replies, t.k.

[lardhelmet]

Hi tilda - I lived abroad for 18 years and recently sent for a Pension Forecast to see if there was any shortfall to qualify me for a full pension. They sent me one and I then sent them a cheque for the difference. They'll send you a statement of account if you ask for it and I was allowed to pick any of the missing years to pay the shortfall. Naturally I picked the cheapest years!

[Buenchico]

The state pension of a deceased man is not transferable, in whole or in part, to his widow. Private pension schemes will have their own rules, specific to each scheme, about whether pension benefits are transferable upon death.

If you return to the UK from abroad you will get the full state pension if you've previously accrued a sufficient number of 'qualifying years' of National Insurance payments. See here:
http://www.direct.gov...tepension/DG_10014671

The basic state pension, for a single person, is currently £97.65 per week. However (irrespective of whether you qualify for the full pension or not) you would be guaranteed a weekly income of £132.60 per week. (If you didn't get that much from your state pension and any private income you might have, the deficit would be made up by Pension Credit. If you're over £65 the guaranteed figure rises to £153.12 per week):
http://www.direct.gov...tatePension/DG_188551

Chris

[buildersmate]

"Private pension schemes will have their own rules, specific to each scheme, about whether pension benefits are transferable upon death"
It is relatively common for such scheme rules to provide for a 50% pension in such circumstances.

[dzug2]

Whilst a woman cannot inherit her dead husband's state pension, her own pension can be based on his NI contibutions if that produces a better result.

[factor-fiction]

Hi tildakovach- please can you clarify whether your husband's pension was astate pension or a private/company pension. Ta

[tildakovach]

THAT IS BRILLIANT, SO MANY EXCELLENT REPLIES, THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL!
NO, AM NOT ASYLUM SEEKER NOT AT ALL, FAR FROM IT, MY NAME IS ACTUALLY STEPHENSON! - WE JUST LIKED WARMER CLIMES FOR A WHILE!
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN, AND ABOVE ALL THANKS FOR THE LINKS, AM ONTO IT RIGHT NOW!
t.k (-user-name only!)