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May I inherit part of partner's pension?
My Pacs (French civil partnership) partner died recently. We had lived together in the UK and now France. When I contacted the UK pensions office to notify them of my partner’s death they told me as we were not married, I would not be entitled to part of my partner’s pension. Is that correct? J.M.
You do not say if your partner was same sex or not but the UK’s position with regard to the Pacs is more straightforward in the former situation since the UK has an equivalent (the Civil Partnership).
We checked with the DWP who did not say they rule out the possibility of your obtaining something in the case of an opposite sex Pacs but equally it could not confirm it is possible. They said you would have to contact them to discuss whether it could be treated as valid in the UK.
However a DWP spokesman said where a person is in a same sex Pacs, recognised under French law, they may potentially be able to inherit UK state pension from their late partner as long as he or she had reached his or her UK state pension age.
However the UK’s rules relating to what can be inherited depend on the individual’s and late partner’s circumstances.
The new ‘single tier’ state pension which applies to people who reached state pension age on or after April 6, 2016, is based on an individual’s own National Insurance record.
In general for those to whom this applies it will not be possible (as it was under the system that existed before this date) for a person to increase their state pension or qualify for a state pension based on their spouse or civil partner’s National Insurance record – however there are some transition rules to tide over the change.
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To understand how specific circumstances affect what you may be able to inherit, the DWP said you should visit the following site: gov.uk/state-pension-through-partner
