If your spouse or civil partner has died, it may be possible for you to increase or inherit extra state pension.
The new state pension is currently worth £203.85 a week if you get the full amount, but this will increase to £221.20. The most you can claim right now if you get the basic state pension is £156.20 a week and this will rise to £169.50. But not everyone gets a full state pension.
It all depends on your National Insurance record and how many qualifying years you have when you come to claim your state pension. You claim the new state pension if you’re a man born on or after April 6, 1951, or a woman born on or after April 6, 1953. Anyone born before these dates will be claiming the old basic state pension.
If you both reached state pension age before April 6, 2016, and you're not claiming the full amount of basic state pension because you don't have enough National Insurance contributions, then you may be able to increase your payments based on the record of your partner.
If your spouse or civil partner remarries or enters into a new civil partnership before they reach state pension age, they will no longer be able to increase their state pension based on your record. For single individuals, those divorced, or who have had their civil partnership dissolved, it may be possible for your estate to claim three months of the basic state pension.
If you were married to your spouse or civil partner before April 6, 2016, you may be able to inherit up to half of your partner’s additional state pension or protected payment. It may also be possible to inherit part or all the extra state pension, or lump sum, your partner had built up if they had "deferred" their state pension and they reached State pension age before April 6, 2016.
The rules are extremely complicated, so make sure you seek free advice from the Pension Service to see if you're able to increase your payments. Estate, planning and wills’ expert, Steve Bish, from Bish Estate Planning, said: “The state pension doesn’t necessarily stop automatically on the death of a recipient.
“The next of kin or estate administrator has a responsibility to notify the pension service. There are many things to consider including the recipient’s marital status and even the date of death and the date of the last payment received.
“If the recipient was of pension age but had deferred their pension in order to receive large payments at a later date, then the estate can claim unpaid pension. Sometimes, your husband, wife, or civil partner (if you have one) could inherit some of your State Pension. This depends on the amount of National Insurance contributions you both made and when you both reached, or will reach, state pension age."