Can my wife hold on to my state pension after I die?

I’M 76 and receive a full state pension. My wife, who is in her mid-60s, is now retired but receives only a very small state pension based on my contributions. I am concerned she would be left with nothing should I die. Can you advise?

D. H., by email. You’ve touched on a question that crosses most people’s minds as they get older.

Sadly, there’s barely anything about the state pension that isn’t mindbogglingly complicated — and the rules about what happens on death are no exception. Please note that the following covers married couples and civil partners.

The good news is that your wife may be entitled to some money based on your National Insurance record. As Mrs H is receiving less than the full basic state pension, she may be able to boost it all the way to the maximum £115.95 a week.

Many people get some sort of top-up to this basic amount, called the State Second Pension or Serps. The average top-up is around £30. Your wife would be entitled to a chunk of this, too.

She can claim up to 50 pc of any top-ups you accrued since 2002, and up to between 50 pc and 100 pc of anything built up between 1978 and 2002, depending on when you reached state pension age. The total Serps or State Second Pension she can receive is limited to £164.36.

There are special rules for pensioners who die single or divorced. Provided you are older than state pension age and haven’t started collecting your payments, your estate can claim up to three months of your state pension.

Some people do ‘defer’ their state pension, which enables you to get a larger weekly payment when you take it or collect a lump sum.

If you deferred your state pension, your spouse may either claim the extra state pension or get a lump sum. If you died within 12 months of deferring, your spouse would be offered only the extra weekly payout option.

Provided they haven’t remarried or formed a new civil partnership since your death, your spouse will get this when they reach state pension age.

That’s the state of play for anyone who has already passed state pension age — 65 for men and 63 for women.

The rules are slightly more complex for those reaching state pension age after April 6 this year. That’s when the new ‘flat-rate’ state pension comes in, paying around £155 a week.

If you both reach state pension age after this date, you’ll be entitled to no more than 50 pc of additional state pension payments above the £155 a week.

If you were widowed and remarry before you reach state pension age, you lose the right to any state pension based on your late husband’s NI contributions.

For more information, visit gov. uk/browse/working/state-pension or call the Pension Service on 0345 606 0265. DURING delivery of a bed and mattress by Furniture Village on March 7 last year, the wallpaper in my stairway was damaged.

The delivery man raised an incident report, detailing the damage. Since then, I have had a very frustrating time trying to resolve the issue and gain compensation for the repair, which cost £250.

I have sent emails and visited the store where I placed the order.

Of the eight times I have emailed, Furniture Village has replied to three, saying that it is moving forward — but then silence follows.

B. L., by email.

ACCIDENTS can happen when furniture is delivered. But it is how these are dealt with that provides the measure of a firm’s customer service. And Furniture village did a pretty poor job in your case — though, as you admit, part of the delay was because you were unable to get a quote immediately as you spent some time in hospital.

when you did get a quote, Furniture village complicated matters by requesting a VAT invoice.

How many decorators do you know who are registered for VAT? I’ve certainly never used one.

The good news is that Furniture village has now coughed up, though it says it was already on to the problem when I made contact. MY HUSBAND and I have a joint Prudence Bond with Prudential that we have held for 24 years. It is now worth around £95,000 according to our last annual statement. Should we be concerned that Pru’s falling share price on the stock market will affect our bond?

B. M., Cumbria.

No, THE performance of your with-profits bond is ring-fenced from Pru’s performance on the stock market.

while insurance companies were badly hit in the latest debacle, they have now started to recover. Some analysts last week recommended investors buy the shares, or at least hold on to them.

whatever happens to the company running your with-profits bond, you are covered by the Financial Services compensation Scheme. You should not be too worried about the latest turmoil: your with-profits bond is designed specifically to counter-act this.

with-profit bonds balance the ups and downs of the stock market. each year, the company announces a bonus it adds to your policy. In the good years it holds some money back to cover for the bad, so that your return is smoothed out.

Yesterday, Prudential announced its bonus rates for this year for its with-profit bonds and is paying 1.75 pc. Last year, the annual bonus was 2 pc.

The latest bonus rate is not spectacular, but it is consistent and likely to remain so. It also stacks up against bank and building society rates — the best you can do in the High Street is around 1.6 pc before tax.

on top of your annual bonus you can also receive a final bonus if and when you cash it in.

experts consider Pru by far the strongest of the life insurance companies selling with-profit bonds.