The Pension Service

[Karee 4,191]

I need some assistance on the best way to handle this. I have no idea how things work in the UK, so posting here hoping for help. A little background. My Thai sister in law married a guy from the UK roughly 15 years ago. They both lived in Thailand. He died in Bangkok in 2006. Since then my sister in law gets a direct deposit into her Thai bank account every month. Some type of survivor benefits I assume. She herself has been disabled and unable to walk since roughly 2012. After he died she received his UK pension benefits every month. I want to say it's something like 500USD monthly. Back in November some forms showed up in the mail back in Thailand. I JUST NOW got them scanned and sent to me, which I'm pretty upset about. There's never any urgency for anything in Thailand. That's another topic I suppose. It appears to be some kind of security check. Here's the front page of 6 or 7 pages:

(image removed as it contained sensitive personally identifying information that could pose a security risk - VJ Moderation Team)

So I'm wondering if anyone from the UK can offer me any advice on what I should do about this? She herself is bed-ridden and somewhat mentally handicapped. I know the mother has gotten a letter from the doctors in Thailand stating this so that she can handle her Thai bank account. I don't know if something like that would suffice for these folks. Maybe I should call them? They probably would wonder why the hell some guy from Texas is calling about a dead British guy and his Thai wife though. Although maybe they're not as suspicious of everyone like Americans are.

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Edited February 8, 2014 by Kathryn41
to remove personally sensitive informaion

[Boiler 46,125]

Not a good idea to post her address etc, my guess is that they are checking she is still alive.

[lost_at_sea 995]

It reads like there is a form she should be completing and returning. I recommend you do that ASAP. Also, call the number on the letter to talk to someone in person to ensure you can returns the forms late, because it looks like she'll be cut off 8 weeks from the date on that letter (about nowish).

You should remove the attachment. You've included her personal reference number and name that a fraudster could take advantage of. In fact, I'm going to report your post and have a moderator do so, anyway.

[Karee 4,191]

It reads like there is a form she should be completing and returning. I recommend you do that ASAP. Also, call the number on the letter to talk to someone in person to ensure you can returns the forms late, because it looks like she'll be cut off 8 weeks from the date on that letter (about nowish).

You should remove the attachment. You've included her personal reference number and name that a fraudster could take advantage of. In fact, I'm going to report your post and have a moderator do so, anyway.

Ok. Yeah I probably shouldn't have posted it, but not sure what to do. Do you think they'll have an issue with me calling?

[Boiler 46,125]

You could call, not sure what good it would do.

[Karee 4,191]

I forgot to come back and update this.

I called them, and while they wouldn't divulge much personal information, they did tell me what I needed to do. I took a highlighter and highlighted the parts that needed to be signed and notarized. I also filled out the part concerning change of address to take my niece out of the mix so that any future paperwork would go directly to my sister in law. I sent these to my niece and had her send that and the original to the mother in law and she had my sister in law sign them and they sent them to the UK pension service via EMS. I was able to track the package online. Once they were received, I called the UK pension service and they told me they had what they needed and they restarted the payments that week.

I have to say that the folks at the pension service in the UK were VERY helpful while not violating any privacy laws.

[Kiwinyc 62]

Glad they were helpful. Your sister is lucky to have you to sort things out for her.