I was expecting someone would already have asked by now Hollyhocks so I will ask so it gets aired,
Was he still married to his first wife when he retired ,
I suspect the pension would have got a mention as part of a settlement when he got Divorced from his first wife,
Eithneangela , Every scheme when set up have clauses and trustees have to follow them very carefully or the will finish up being sued for infringement if they do not follow the rules very carefully,
Some take out Insurance to cover they will not be allowed to make any changes or they will not be covered,
Some scheme set up rules say you have to pay a little extra for spouses' and children pension schemes no allowance was made if you were single or married had to be paid by all, ,
Other schemes allowed you to take a lower pension and opt for joint pension paying 50% to the surviving spouse
Others allowed you to buy widows/widowers surviving pension using part of your lump sum and get the tax back over as many years as it takes ,
I suspect you already know from this reply and other replys on this forum I am not a financial guru,
A well known poster on hear posted about a co worker who retired and never included there spouse she only found out after he died in the past year on this forum,