Readers' forum: Civil case

Our client died unexpectedly. He was still working as a civil servant was unmarried and had no children.

Our late client’s estate is modest and is less than the inheritance tax nil rate band. However his family have been advised there is a death benefit to be paid from the Civil Service pension scheme. If this amount is part of the estate it would take it above the inheritance tax threshold.

The family were advised that the managers of the scheme had no discretion to pay the fund to the siblings and have subsequently received a letter saying it would be paid to the personal representatives and a grant of probate would have to be produced.

We have been advised that the pensions reforms do not apply to Civil Service pensions and we cannot find anything in those pension rules that helps – they say inheritance tax ‘may’...