Pension & Ex Wife - Still Need Help Pls

Hi my dad was married in 1969 for 2 years when his ex wife left him and filed for divorce. He was ordered to pay spousal maintainence of £4 per week indefinitely unless she remarried

My dad is still paying her spousal maintainance but has done well for himself and now has savings,property and decent personal pension plans. We believe she is cohabiting but only have electoral roll info to show this and understand this doesnt affect spousal maintaince anyhow. We also understand that by going back to court to stop the maintainance payments could prove costly for my dad so best option is to continue with these small payments until one of them dies.

If my dad dies first I understand that unfortunately his ex can make a claim on my dads estate. With regards to my dads personal pensions if he hasnt taken his pension then it forms part of his estate.

However does anyone know what would happen once my dad takes his pensions and gets an income from it and dies ?

Does his ex wife just have a claim on his estate i.e. savings / property or would she be entitled to an income from his pension upon his death??

Cheers x

Not sure whether this has any bearing on the matter or not but the personal pensions were not set up until a good 12-15 years after the divorce.

Also my dad remarried hence me lol so has a spouse also involved in the equation x

Sorry if I seem impatient but i still really need some help with this if anyone is around

Much appreciated
Thanks x

If your father dies, pensions normally end on death but, depending on the terms of the pension scheme, his widow may be entitled to benefits - as my wife would be.

The ex spouse is no longer his widow, so can't take any benefits under the pension scheme. That is exactly why pension sharing was introduced.

As I said, I think it is extremely unlikely that his ex would succeed in a Family Provision claim - partly because of the cost, partly because she can't really argue she was being ' maintained ' if all she was getting was £4 p.w. and
finally, because your father has a much stronger obligation
towards his second wife.

Mike 100468

Great stuff - thanks for the advice and reassurance cheers Mike x