The State pension stops, a work pension may pay a survivor, and a personal pension passes to the estate. Each is dealt with by a different organisation.
A State pension (contributory or non-contributory) stops on the date of death. Tell the Department of Social Protection as soon as you can: any payment that lands after the death must be repaid from the estate, and it is simpler when there is little of it.
Two things may replace it for a surviving spouse or civil partner:
Apply through MyWelfare or the local Intreo office. How to tell the Department of Social Protection.
If the person was already drawing a pension from a past employer, that pension usually continues at a reduced rate to the spouse or civil partner, commonly half. It does not continue to adult children. Tell the pension scheme or its administrator, send the death certificate, and ask what the survivor's pension is and when it starts; payments to the deceased stop and any overpayment is reclaimed.
If the person was still working, the employer's scheme often carries a death-in-service benefit: a lump sum of two to four times salary, paid to the people the person nominated or to the estate, plus a spouse's pension. Ask the employer's HR department for the scheme contact, and ask specifically about death-in-service, because it is often the largest sum the family receives.
If the person had left a job years ago and left the pension behind, a "preserved" or deferred benefit may still be there. Nobody will write to you about it. Old payslips, P60s and letters are the clues; the Pensions Authority can help trace a scheme by employer name.
A personal pension or PRSA that had not yet been drawn is paid as a lump sum to the estate, and is dealt with by the executor along with everything else. Where the person had retired and held an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF), the fund passes under the will; a surviving spouse can usually take it into an ARF of their own without an immediate tax charge, while other beneficiaries pay tax on it. Tell the provider (Irish Life, Zurich, Aviva, New Ireland, Standard Life, Royal London and the rest) and they will send the claim form. Irish Life, Zurich Life, Aviva, New Ireland.
A retired public servant's pension is paid by the National Shared Services Office or the relevant body (the HSE, a local authority, the Gardaí, the Defence Forces, a school's payroll). A spouse's and children's pension is usually payable where the person was in the scheme. How to tell the NSSO.
Pension lump sums paid to the estate form part of it for probate. A spouse or civil partner pays no inheritance tax on anything they receive; children and others have tax-free thresholds, above which Capital Acquisitions Tax applies. The executor deals with this through Revenue's Statement of Affairs. Where money is significant, a solicitor or tax adviser is worth the fee.
Many people had two or three jobs with pension schemes they had forgotten. LegacySteps' letters to pension providers ask whether anything was held in the person's name, and the optional pension search writes to the Pensions Authority and the main providers on the family's behalf. Ask your funeral director about LegacySteps, or see how it works.
Written and checked on 3 November 2026 against the published rules of the organisations named. Rules, rates and forms change, so check with the organisation before relying on any figure. LegacySteps is independent: it is not the HSE, the Department of Social Protection, a bank, an insurer or a credit union, and nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.