insurance

[zac1]

a friends partner as unfortunately passed away she as lived with him for fifteen years, he had a private insurance but did not have her name down as next of kin. the sol told her the money will go to his 13yr old son who was from a previous relationship which he only found out about 12mths ago. shes got to pay for the funeral and live on job allowance as she as not got a job is there anything that can be done.

[bednobs]

well for a start, she could get a job
if she is on certain benefits, she could apply for a funeral grant. Is there a will? was he supporting the son in any way before his death?

[zac1]

She suffers with her nerves and has shingles at mo dont think there was a will and yes he was paying maintainance.

[bednobs]

if she is unwell enough not to work, then she will be entitled to incapacity benefit or disability living allowance

[bednobs]

if she is unwell enough not to work, then she will be entitled to incapacity benefit or disability living allowance

[zac1]

i think she is more bothered about not being entitled to insurance after being with him so long and someone whose just come on the scene taking all the money dosent a common law wife have any rights

[Buenchico]

Since there's a solicitor involved, I assume that he/she is acting as executor of the estate (or, if there was no will, he/she is seeking letters of administration on behalf of the boy). In which case, the solicitor will be responsible for paying all of the deceased person's debts and the funeral costs from the estate before making the remainder of the money available (through a trust fund) to the boy.

i.e. There is no obligation upon your friend to pay for the funeral. It should be funded from her partner's estate (which includes the insurance payout). The only exception might be if she'd already arranged a massively expensive funeral. In which case, the estate would only be required to meet the basic costs, with your friend paying the excess.

Ultimately, nobody can be compelled to pay for a funeral. If nobody is willing to pay, the local authority is responsible for arranging, and paying for, a basic funeral. (NB: Local authorities aren't obliged to take over the costs of a funeral which has already been arranged by somebody else). They can then seek to recoup their costs from the estate of the deceased person (but not from any relative or partner).

Chris

[zac1]

so she as no way of recieving the insurance money instead of the boy .although she has lived with him so long and this boy [although no fault of his own] recieves this hard earned money

[Ethel]

Their is no such thing in the UK as a common law wife (or husband). You have married status by going through a legal wedding ceremony or a legal civil ceremony.

Otherwise you are single and have no automatic legal rights in the sort of case you describe.

She could go to court to claim but it could prove very expensive and she is not guaranteed to win, especially as he was maintaining his son who is the beneficiary.

She needs to speak to a solicitor of her own.

[Ethel]

Some information here:

http://www.terry.co.uk/cohabs.html

http://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/

[bednobs]

there is probably a reason why the deceased partner did not either name the partner as next of kin for the policy or make a will in favour of the partner, ie that he wanted the son to have the money. Why anyone would want to turn over the wishes of their dead partner just to get money is beyond me.

[EverClean]

I'm getting the feeling that the "is there anything that can be done" in your initial question is in direct relation to her obtaining the proceeds of the life assurance policy on her late partner.

The comment relating to paying for the funeral is incorrect as covered by a previous post.

The comment relating to living on job allowance is a side issue.

She does not have any rights over the insurance policy. It was the responsibility of the person who took out the policy to ensure that it paid out to who he wanted it paid to. We have to assume that this was the case and the payout was never intended for your friend.

There isn't anything that can be done.