Martin Lewis shocks audience with fact about what happens to your pension when you die

Martin Lewis shared important tips about pensions on his show that left audience members in shock.

During an episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show, the MoneySavingExpert asked the audience if they knew that you cannot put your pension in your will, which several people were surprised to discover.

Unlike property and savings, pensions are not part of your estate which means it won’t be covered in the will.

Instead, if you want to leave your pension to someone after you pass away, there are several important steps that must be done to ensure it goes to the correct person.

Firstly, you must go on to your company or private pensions - depending on your provider - and complete an ‘expression of wish and nomination’ form.

This form informs your pension provider who should receive your pension savings if you die before you retire. These nominations are known as the beneficiaries.

Although the ‘expression of wish and nomination’ form isn’t legally binding on your provider, they will take your wishes into account when deciding who to pay your pension out to.

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It’s important to complete the form if you haven’t already but if you have, you must ensure that it’s up-to-date.

For example, you might have had a child since you last updated the form or perhaps you and your partner ended your relationship.

Lewis also shared a PSA on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, about the importance of keeping your beneficiaries up to date and one person replied: “Also really important to keep up to date... had a case where a colleague’s ex husband was still on her nomination form. Family had to contest. A nightmare for all involved.”

“You don’t wanna leave it to your ex-husband or ex-wife if you don’t want the money to go to them anymore and you could well be doing that,” Lewis told viewers.

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Each pension provider will have their own expression of wishes form and they will ask you to fill one out as soon as you sign up to the scheme, which isn’t mandatory but is highly recommended.

The form will generally ask you to include your name, national insurance number and pension account number. You must also include the name, address, date of birth and relationship of the beneficiaries you select and you can choose as many as you like.

There’s also usually an option to select the percentage of your pension you’d like each beneficiary to receive but make sure the total for all beneficiaries adds up to 100%.

To update your beneficiaries, all you have to do is contact your pension provider either via your online account or by completing a paper form.