Air Cdre's 'Wife' Denied Pension

[justintime129]

What about those that live together at weekends have separate bank accounts and pay the bills separately?

Rules have to be made to ensure that the system isn't taken for a ride otherwise the slapper from the local village will be laying claim using hotel bills from a couple of dirty weekends in Blackpool as proof of the relationship.

If someone from outside a formalised relationship wants to lay claim let them take it to court.

I'm on about the couples who have had kids together shared their lives and to all intents and purposes are a proper married couple except they didnt go and get a certificate. There are hundreds and thousands out there who have never got round to it.

These are the ones who should get the pensions

 

[propersplitbrainme]

I'm on about the couples who have had kids together shared their lives and to all intents and purposes are a proper married couple except they didnt go and get a certificate. There are hundreds and thousands out there who have never got round to it.

These are the ones who should get the pensions

But why don't they though? If you go about life in this way you are sowing the seeds of your own problems, why should the state pander to people who thought they could take a pick-n-mix approach to the parts they want in on (pensions) and the the bits they decided to opt out of (marriage).

 

[NigeC]

The law get it wrong at times but it is the law of the land and yes, when it gets messy, bits of legal admin is needed to sort thing out otherwise it gets even messier

 

[Dan_Brown]

I'm on about the couples who have had kids together shared their lives and to all intents and purposes are a proper married couple except they didnt go and get a certificate. There are hundreds and thousands out there who have never got round to it.

These are the ones who should get the pensions

You are missing the point. There was a possibility that she could have got her mitts on the cash, the issue/fact was she was still married to someone else and had been for 20+ years according to the article!!! It was their lethargic attitude (or some other reason) why they fell foul of the law/policy.

 

[justintime129]

But why don't they though? If you go about life in this way you are sowing the seeds of your own problems, why should the state pander to people who thought they could take a pick-n-mix approach to the parts they want in on (pensions) and the the bits they decided to opt out of (marriage).

The NHS pension scheme and the local government scheme enable an unmarried partner to get the pension as long as the paperwork is filled out beforehand. As usual the mod is years behind.

 

[justintime129]

You are missing the point. There was a possibility that she could have got her mitts on the cash, the fact was she was still married to someone else and had been for 20+ years according to the article!!! It was their lethargic attitude (or some other reason) why they fell foul of the law/policy.

I think this thread as evolved from that now. I do realise now that she was still married to someone else. Other posters are now going on about being married to get the pension. I'm saying why should thus be right.

 

[Dan_Brown]

But giving judgment, Judge Fancourt said cases like Mrs Langford's were precisely the sort to which the rule was directed.
Just because the scheme had treated Mrs Langford "harshly", it did not mean it was "unlawful", he ruled.

She/they had 15 years to get her divorced and them married (they didn't even need to get married, she just had to be able to get married in the first place!)

Her reason (excuse) being that they had been 'too busy' - 15 years of too busy? Nah, does not hold water and the law was 100% correct in this instance - however, standby for an appeal and someone to roll over somewhere down the line and award the full pension with compensation for hurt feelings.

 

[propersplitbrainme]

This part of her self-pitying interview really gritted my sh1t good and proper.......

"When the justice system has lost people like me - a middle-class, Anglo-Saxon lady - they have lost indeed."

The application of the logical fallacy now known as the "Appeal to the Daily Mail Reader". She is basically saying that the law should have taken her side because of who she is. Because middle-class white ladies don't make errors in their lives and end up getting the sh1tty end of the stick through decisions they themselves took do they?
Whether the MOD should change its policy is a debate that we'd probably never resolve here. Ultimately it is what it is, and if you are an intelligent, middle-class white lady you should have made sure you had your metaphorical book keeping in order before things went tragically wrong.

 

[FOMz]

Anyone else remember this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-63818/My-SAS-partner-died-hero-I-widows-pension.html

Similar situation,but with a baby involved. same outcome.

 

[Sniffer]

Debating whether the pension rules are right or wrong (I personally think they re right but that's by the by) is irrelevent. Bottom line is they knew the rules and ignored them at their peril. Unlucky middle class anglo saxon woman!

 

[iainrm]

Optimist

Optimist

As an Air Cdre one would like to think he was an intelligent chap and i am 99% sure he understood the implications of not been married regarding benefits/pensions.

Therefore he either did not want to marry the lady, she did not want to marry him, or if it was their intention to get married then he was complete fool by not doing it sooner. On this occasion the decision made was 100% correct to deny the pension.

Is there a link between rank and intelligence?
It was well concealed in my day.
I assume this guy was one of the winged gods hence above the petty rule us mere mortals have to live by.

 

[Dan_Brown]

I see your point, but i said he obviously had 'intelligence', not once did i mention 'common sense'

 

[Ex-Bay]

She & the Air Cdr. were at a reunion gig a while ago; I thought she was a nice lady.
Wicked sense of humour.

 

[Barch]

She & the Air Cdr. were at a reunion gig a while ago; I thought she was a nice lady.
Wicked sense of humour.

I bet she isn't laughing now.

 

[Space_Cowby]

I bet she isn't laughing now.

Possibly not but still living in her alledged house backing on the Thames (with mooring rights). Did she not divorce husband as she was still getting a regular payments ?