WhatsNew2Day – Latest News And Breaking Headlines
<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
I am 69 years old and am claiming my state pension. My partner is 65 years old and has not yet received his pension, which will be available from December 2024.
Should anything happen to any of us regarding claiming part of a deceased person’s state pension, could you please let us know if we need to form a civil partnership or would it be sufficient to provide proof that we have lived together for over 30 years? ?
I’ve tried to find information on the Gov.UK website but it’s a minefield. I’m not sure if we need to form a civil partnership before or after my partner retires.
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT HOW TO ASK STEVE HIS PENSION QUESTION
Planning for old age: Can we inherit state pensions after 30 years of living together?
Steve Webb responds: As a general principle, the state pension system divides the world into two groups: those who are married (or in a civil union) and those who are not.
Even if you have lived together for 30 years, the state pension system is not interested: in the eyes of the State, you are still “single”.
Therefore, in principle, for a person to obtain state pension rights from their partner, they would have to have been married or in a civil partnership. (For the sake of brevity, from now on I will simply refer to “being married”, but it should be understood that this includes civil unions.)
For example, where both parties are subject to the “old” state pension system (pre-April 2016), being married is the key to being able to benefit from your partner’s National Insurance record after their death.
Do you have a question for Steve Webb? Scroll down to find out how to contact you.
However, I see that both you and your partner are included in the new state pension system.
Even if one has been married for a long time, the ability to inherit when one spouse dies is substantially reduced in the new state pension system.
The main situation in which something can be inherited is where the person who dies had a pension higher than the standard flat rate (currently £203.85 per week).
This excess portion is called the “protected payment” and the surviving spouse can inherit half of this “protected payment.”
Unfortunately, this provision only applies if the marriage was in force when the new state pension was introduced on 6 April 2016.
This means that getting married now would not bring you within the scope of the inheritance rules when it comes to the state pension system.
However, there are other reasons why being married could still be an advantage for you.
– Although getting married now may not help you with your state pension inheritance rights, it may improve your position when it comes to company pensions.
Most company pension schemes will pay a pension to the surviving spouse, whilst the provision for surviving (unmarried) partners may be more limited and may vary from scheme to scheme.
– When it comes to the income tax system, married couples can potentially benefit from the ‘marriage allowance in cases where one of the spouses is a non-taxpayer and the other is a basic rate taxpayer.
The lower-earning spouse can transfer 10 percent of their personal allowance (when not used) to the higher-earning spouse, thereby reducing the couple’s total tax bill.
STEVE WEBB ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT PENSIONS
You can’t do this if you’re just living together. You can find more details about the marriage allowance at: Marriage allowance: how it works.
– There are certain inheritance tax breaks for married couples that do not apply when couples cohabit.
In particular, if the first member of a married couple dies and does not exhaust their entire standard ‘nil rate band’ and/or their ‘residence nil rate band’, the balance may be transferred to a surviving spouse.
> Inheritance tax explained: who pays and how much
In addition to these purely financial advantages, a couple may find it easier to be married when it comes to dealing with issues after the death of one of the partners.
For example, if someone dies without having made a will, the surviving spouse generally has automatic inheritance rights that do not apply when the deceased was not married.
Being part of a married couple can also help in situations where someone is seriously ill and there are questions about the treatment of the sick person.
A hospital may give much more weight to the opinions of a spouse than to an unmarried couple, even if they have been lifelong partners.
Of course, ultimately it is a personal matter between you and your partner whether you decide to get married or enter into a civil partnership.
And I understand that getting married now probably won’t make any difference to your state pension situation.
But, as I have already explained, there are other ways in which being married can have financial and non-financial advantages.
This is the money podcast