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Distribution of death in service lump sum - meaning of 'maintain' 2

United Kingdom
11/12/2003
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Reference: L00713

The sons of a deceased member challenged the distribution of a death in service lump sum to themselves, their two siblings and the deceased’s girlfriend. They claimed that no award should have been made to the girlfriend, who, unlike the brothers and their two siblings, was not a beneficiary under the will. The definition of “beneficiary” under the will included anyone who the trustees considered the member was helping to maintain. The trustees had argued that a couple living together (where both are earning) must be maintaining their lifestyle by virtue of their joint earnings and, to that extent, are helping to maintain each other.

The Ombudsman held that the trustees’ interpretation was wrong. Inadequate enquiries had been made to establish whether the girlfriend was someone the deceased “was helping to maintain” and noted that the trustees had declined to award her a dependant’s pension “on the basis of financial interdependency”. He therefore remitted the decision back to the trustees.

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