No Expression of Wish Form: Who Gets the Money?

If there is no expression of wish form on file, the people who decide who gets a death in service payout are the scheme trustees, not you and not the family. Most workplace life schemes are written under a discretionary trust, which means the trustees hold the money and choose who receives it from a defined group of possible beneficiaries. A completed form would have told them who you had in mind. Without one, they have to work it out for themselves, and that takes time.

This is unsettling to hear in the first weeks after a death, because it sounds as though a stranger is deciding your family's money. In practice trustees are not looking to make surprising choices. They are trying to reach the answer the person would have given if they had filled the form in — usually a spouse, a partner, children, or whoever depended on them. But "usually" is not "always", and the absence of a form turns a quick payment into an inquiry.

This guide explains, in the order it happens, what trustees actually do when there is no nomination: how they decide, who they tend to consider, who tends to be left out, and what you can do to help the process along if the death has already happened.

The short answer: the trustees decide

Under a discretionary trust — the structure most group life and death in service schemes use — the benefit does not automatically belong to anyone. It is held by trustees who have the power, and the duty, to pay it to one or more people from a class named in the trust deed. An expression of wish, sometimes called a nomination or a beneficiary form, is your guidance to those trustees. It is not legally binding on them, but in the ordinary case they follow it, and it lets them pay quickly because they are not left guessing.

Take the form away and the discretion remains, but the guidance is gone. The trustees still have to choose, and they still have to choose responsibly, which means they cannot simply pay the first person who asks. They have to find out who the potential beneficiaries are and who was actually dependent on the person who died, and only then decide. That is why a missing form does not usually change who ends up with the money in a straightforward family — but it very often changes how long they wait and how much they have to prove.

Why a work scheme is built this way

The discretionary trust is not an accident or an oversight; it is deliberate, and it usually works in a family's favour. Because the trustees hold the money rather than the deceased's estate, the payout normally falls outside the estate for inheritance tax, and it does not have to wait for probate before it can be paid. In a clear case with a valid nomination, that means the right person can be paid promptly and without a tax charge on that sum.

The trade-off is the one you are meeting now. The same discretion that keeps the money outside the estate also means no single person is automatically entitled to it, so when the guidance is missing the trustees must investigate before they pay. It is worth knowing that not every arrangement points at the family at all: a business protection policy can be written so that the company receives the money rather than your family, which is a very different structure and a reminder to check what any given policy was actually set up to do.

The order the trustees actually work through

Trustees tend to follow a recognisable sequence, and knowing it makes the wait less mysterious. First, they establish the benefit is payable at all — that the person was a covered, active member when they died. Then they read the trust deed to see the class of potential beneficiaries they are allowed to pay: this typically covers a spouse or civil partner, children, other relatives, dependants, and sometimes anyone named in the will or anyone with whom the member was financially connected.

Next, they gather information. This is the stage families feel most, because it usually means a letter or a form asking about the household: who lived with the deceased, who depended on their income, whether there was a partner, children or others being supported, and whether a will exists. They may ask for certificates, bank details showing shared finances, and details of anyone financially dependent. Only once they have a reasonable picture do they exercise their discretion and decide — sometimes paying one person, sometimes splitting the benefit between several. Where the family situation is separated, blended or disputed, this stage is where the months go, because the trustees have to weigh competing claims rather than rubber-stamp an obvious one.

Who trustees usually consider, and who tends to be left out

In the common case, the people trustees consider first are the ones who shared the deceased's life and money: a husband, wife or civil partner, a cohabiting partner, and dependent children. Financial dependency and interdependency are the threads they follow, so a partner who shared a home, a joint account and the bills is usually well placed to be considered even without a form, provided that dependency can be shown.

The people who tend to be left out are the ones the deceased never recorded and the trustees cannot easily see. An unmarried partner who kept finances entirely separate can be harder to recognise than a married one. Estranged family members, friends, and adults who were not financially dependent are less likely to be chosen unless there is a clear reason. Stepchildren and other informally-supported people can be overlooked simply because nobody tells the trustees they exist. This is the quiet unfairness of a missing form: it does not just risk the wrong person being paid, it risks the right person being invisible. It is also why divorce complicates things so much — an ex-spouse may still appear on old records while a current partner does not, a tangle we deal with in how trustees decide who to pay after a divorce, and in arranging cover to reach children rather than an ex-partner.

If the benefit is not held in trust

Not every death benefit sits under a discretionary trust, and the difference decides whether the will matters. Some pension scheme lump sums, where there is no valid nomination, are paid instead to the person's legal personal representatives — in other words, into the estate. Once money is in the estate, it is governed by the will, and if there is no will it is shared under the intestacy rules.

That distinction is worth pinning down early, because it changes who to talk to and what evidence matters. If the benefit is discretionary, the trustees decide and the will is only evidence of intention. If it is paid into the estate, the will controls it, and where there is no will the intestacy rules apply — and those rules are not the same in Scotland or Northern Ireland as they are in England and Wales, so who inherits by default depends on where the person lived. The scheme administrator can tell you which route applies to a particular benefit, and it is a reasonable first question to ask them.

What you can do now, if the death has already happened

If you are reading this after a bereavement, the most useful thing you can do is help the trustees reach the right answer quickly. Respond fully to whatever they send, and do it promptly, because the payment cannot move ahead of their information-gathering. Set out clearly who depended on the person who died, and be specific about your own position — that you were married or living together, that you shared a home and money, that there are children.

Gather the evidence that makes dependency visible: a marriage or civil partnership certificate, birth certificates for children, and proof of a shared life such as a joint bank account, a joint tenancy or mortgage, and household bills in both names. If you were an unmarried partner, this evidence matters most of all, because it is what allows the trustees to recognise you. Provide the will if there is one, even though it may not control the benefit, because it helps show intention. And keep a note of your contact with the scheme, so nothing stalls because a letter went unanswered. If the estate itself is involved, the same care applies to who is entitled there, which differs again where the person had already gone through a divorce without updating their records.

It also helps to know what the trustees cannot do, so you do not spend energy on the wrong fight. They cannot simply pay whoever shouts loudest, and they are not bound by a family's informal agreement about who "should" get the money. Their duty is to consider the possible beneficiaries and reach a reasonable decision, and a decision reached that way is difficult to overturn afterwards. That cuts both ways: it protects a genuine dependant from being shut out by a louder relative, but it also means the time to influence the outcome is while the trustees are still gathering information, not after they have paid. Answer their questions honestly and completely, and raise anyone you know they may not have heard about, including children from an earlier relationship, before the decision is made rather than after.

How to make sure this never happens

For anyone reading this while they still can act, the lesson is short: complete the expression of wish form, and keep it current. It takes minutes, it is free, and it converts a months-long trustee inquiry into a same-week payment to the people you actually chose. Review it after a marriage, a separation, a birth or a death, and remember that it is separate from your will — updating one does not update the other, and a nomination that names someone who has since died can lapse the moment that person dies before you.

The form only helps, though, if the cover exists and is enough. Death in service ends when the job does, and its amount is set by your employer, not by your family's needs. A personal policy written in trust puts the money outside the estate, lets you name the beneficiaries yourself, and stays with you between jobs. If you would like an FCA-authorised broker to price cover you control, you can get life insurance quotes, and our guide to death in service and employer cover sets out how the work benefit fits alongside it.

Frequently asked questions

Who decides where the money goes with no nomination?

The scheme trustees. Under a discretionary trust they choose from a class of potential beneficiaries set out in the trust deed, which typically covers a spouse or civil partner, children, other relatives, dependants and sometimes anyone named in the will. They gather information about who was financially dependent before they decide, which is thorough but slows the payment down compared with following a completed form.

How long does it take without an expression of wish?

Longer than with one. Trustees must identify and consider possible beneficiaries, often by writing to the family and asking about financial dependency, before they can decide. Weeks become months where the family situation is complicated, separated or contested, and no money is released in the meantime. Responding fully and quickly, with evidence of who depended on the person who died, is the fastest way to help it along.

Does the will decide it instead?

Not usually. Where the benefit sits under a discretionary trust it falls outside the estate, so the will does not control it, though trustees may treat it as evidence of your wishes. Only where the money is paid into the estate does the will govern who receives it, and where there is no will the intestacy rules apply — and those rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland from England and Wales.