Pension Adjustment Order & Subsequent Death

[dublinwoman72]

I have a somewhat unusual query. If spouse X gets annual pension & retirement lump sum benefits from spouse Y ruled through a PAO, if Spouse X dies, do the benefits revert back to Spouse Y ? In other words, say Spouse X gets 20 per cent of spouse Y's annual pension & retirement lump sum, but Spouse X dies before Spouse Y retires, can the benefits then revert back to Their "original owner" Spouse Y, or are they "permanently gone" if you like. If it was post retirement, obviously the lump sum is gone, but would the annual pension revert back to Spouse Y ?

 

[Fortune]

Cancel the hitman.

Impact of death of a non-member - pensionsauthority

If a non-member who has been granted a designated benefit under a pension adjustment order (PAO) dies (prior to any decision to transfer the designated benefit to another scheme or policy), any payment to their estate depends on the circumstances.

pensionsauthority.ie

 

[dublinwoman72]

Ok so pension authority advice is all very vague

 

[ArthurMcB]

Yeah im at a loss as to what the answer is to OPs question.

 

[Fortune]

Ok so pension authority advice is all very vague

As per the pension authority link, it's "permanently gone"; payment goes to the non-member spouse's estate.

 

[Clamball]

if it is a DB pension and the circumstances from the OP happens how can that pension scheme calculate “an amount”? Do they figure out the potential transfer value and offer 20% of that? What is the tax implication for the estate?

A DC scheme seems much more straightforward, it is a known value at time of death, but there is still the tax issue.

And what if the spouses estate went to the kids? Removing 20% from a pension is very significant. Would I as a child of divorced parents with one dead want the remaining parent to live with less than an ideal pension so i could get a lump sum from it on the death of the parent. Plus there would be no mechanism for the children to say, we don’t want that part of the estate, leave it in the pension fund.