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Am I entitled to my father’s pension since I am the beneficiary of his estate?
Anonymous1 views3 answers
General Motors (my father’s employer) has stated that my father did not designate a beneficiary for his pension. In my father’s will, my grandmother and I (his son) were the designated beneficiaries of his estate. Am I entitled to my father’s pension?
My father passed away in 1985, and was working for GM at the time of his death. He died of a heart attack while training for GM out of state. He had worked for GM for 19 years at the time of his death. He was 40 years old when he died.
At the time of his death, my stepmother was married to my dad for only 5 months. My stepmother tried to get his pension, but was denied because they weren't married for 12 months. Then my mother tried to get his pension, but she was also denied, because she wasn't married to him at the time of his death.
If there is a pension remaining with GM, it appears as though your father's pension is part of his estate. Your mother might also have an interest in the pension based on her divorce decree. You should review the divorce decree of your parents to see if it mentioned the GM pension, or if there is a QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) that was part of the divorce.
GM did have a death benefit with their pension program for its UAW workers, which you might be able to obtain if it was not paid out at the time of his death. From working with past GM employees, the pension usually has a payout option based on an election made by the employee.
After you review the documents from your parent's divorce you should then verify if there is a pension remaining to make a claim on. If there is a pension to make a claim on, either submit a Small Estates Affidavit(if under $100,000), or if the amount in the pension is over $100,000, open a probate in the Superior Court in the County that your father was residing in when he died.
To finish my answer above, If there is a probate the court would assist in determining who the beneficiaries are. One factor in making this determination is the validity of your father's will, and the interests that his new wife had in the pension. If the will was not valid because of the new marriage, then the beneficiaries of the pension would be determined by the laws of intestate succession in California.
If you do not have any siblings and if your mother does not have any rights to the pension based on her divorce, the pension most likely go 1/2 to the surviving spouse and 1/2 to you. If you have any siblings, under the above assumptions the pension would go 1/3 to the surviving spouse, 2/3rds to children of the decedent.
If there was no named beneficiary of the GM Pension, then a probate of the will is required.
If the the pension is under $100,000, then you might get it if GM will accept a Small Estate Affidavit (wife may have an interest though).
