The way Standard Life have treated Meg is at best probably unlawful. Giving away a Pension Fund with little or no verification is beyond belief. You have got to hand it to Standard Life though, they must be the only insurance company in existence that pays out without a 'quibble' !!!!!
I wonder if they would apply the same cavalier attitude to paying out when your roof got blown off in a storm ... as it is their money they would have to pay out then no doubt it would be a different story... Act of God or some other excuse and then they would take 6 months to make a decision. But if it is YOUR money they hold then they throw it to anyone who asks. over 2 years ago via web

UPDATE to the story on Meg whose pension was given away to someone else by STANDARD LIFE. Meg's lawyer has now read the full rules of the Standard Life pension plan which Standard Life only sent on request 2 days ago.

The lawyer is in no doubt that it is a pension as also defined by Dutch pension legislation under which her Marriage Contract was drawn up. ( Meg was married in Holland as they lived there at the time). Therefore under both the notarised Will and her Dutch Marriage contract Meg should have been the recipient of this pension. Standard Life had no moral or legal right to give her pension payment ( £70,000) to another member of her ex-husbands family instead and without her knowledge. A family member, incidentally, who was not even mentioned in the will as a beneficiary of anything.

Standard Life are using the 'discretionary payments' clause to excuse and justify the fact that they gave Meg's pension to the wrong person. A pension which she contributed to for 17 years of her marriage. Standard Life did this without making any checks whatsoever to see if there was a Will or to even request a solicitors letter. Meg now has No pension.

If you would like to support Meg in her fight to get her pension back from Standard Life please join the 'Pensions at Standard Life Quiet Riot'. Thanks for your support.

And remember, if there is a 'discretionary clause' in your pension or life insurance payment, don't let an 'adminstrator' at Standard Life make the same mistake with your pension that they did in Meg's case. Perhaps its time to change this legislation once and for all. over 2 years ago via web

I am the friend Scotty writes about in his story about Standard Life. I have just added a comment to his story, but thought I would share this as a direct experience with you as well.
Not only did my ex-husband make clear in his Will what his wishes regarding his pension were, my entitlement to them are also enshrined in our Marriage Contract, as well as under Dutch law (I am Dutch, and we lived in Holland when we got married). All our pensions were built up during our marriage.
Standard Life's decision to pay the £70.000 to a family member of my ex-husband's, was made without my knowledge (I was still trying to arrange his cremation in France, which is where he passed away), without requiring any further documentation, and without any investigation into my ex-husband's actual circumstances. They did not check whether there was a Will, or any directions as to what my ex-husband himself wanted to happen with HIS money. They did not check whether he had (for instance) re-married, or even had any children. Absolutely nothing. They simply took this family member's word for everything, asked for no proof whatsoever, and subsequently have made it perfectly clear that they do not care at all that this person was lying.
They paid out within weeks of my ex-husband's passing away, weeks before he had even been cremated.

This has resulted in the fact that I now have NO pension at all, apart from what I may be able to get together in state pensions. And ALL Standard Life has managed to do, is to cowardly hide behind their 'discretionary payments' clause. It is cowardly and shaming, and it ought to be criminal as well. And yes, they should be boycotted for who and what they are.

We shall see what the Pensions Advisory Service has to say about it. I have had to employ the services of a Dutch solicitor to help me fight this fight, which comes at a great financial cost.
Personally speaking, however, it truly is hard enough for me that my ex-husband (with whom I was very close) has passed away, without having to fight for a pension I myself worked for too, and which ought to be legally mine. over 2 years ago via web

This case was initially referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service in London. They replied in September with a letter stating " complaints like these are more appropriately dealt wth by the Pensions Ombudsman. However the Pensions Ombudsman requires The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) to try to resolve the matter first. I have therefore sent your complaint to TPAS who will get in touch with you. If TPAS cannot resolve your complaint, they will tell you if you can refer your complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman. Otherwise please come back to us and we will see if there is any other way we can help".
Kafka is obviously alive and well and working in the Ombudsman service !!! We await further developments. over 2 years ago via web

If anyone has a Pension policy or Life insurance with Standard Life, please be aware that your Policy can be paid out to the wrong person on the whim of Standard Life. They can do this by using the 'discretionary payment' clause. By discretionary, it means that some clerk at Standard Life will use THEIR discretion to decide who to pay YOUR money to, without checking any details, without checking to see if there is a will, without even asking for a solicitors letter !
Irresponsible use of this clause on the part of Standard Life has already resulted in someone losing a pension which should have been paid to them. A friend recently lost a £70,000 pension payment which had been left to her in her husbands Will, because Standard Life paid it to someone else instead. Standard Life have flatly refused to correct their mistake claiming that it was up to their discretion who to pay it to. What right did Standard Life have to do this, and what right did they have to completely ignore the wishes of the Policy holder who had entrusted his money to them?. When we entrust our money to companies like Standard Life, we assume that in the event of our death the correct beneficiary will automatically receive the policy benefits, but this is obviously not the case. This matter has now been passed to the Ombudsman.. But please, everyone, if you have a policy with Standard Life, be aware that you risk it being paid to the wrong person on the whim of a Standard Life clerk. Anyone who has a policy which contains a 'discretionary payment' clause is at risk, so check it out now. If anyone wants more information about this particular case I will be happy to provide it.

over 2 years ago via web