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My wife and I relied on our credit card insurance policies when travelling to the Middle East and North Africa to visit our family. However, a family friend told us he is struggling to recover a big medical bill against his policy for seemingly spurious reasons. How can I make sure we’re fully covered?
Bilal Mirza, commercial litigation partner in the London office of law firm JMW Solicitors, says whenever you travel it is vital to have appropriate and adequate travel insurance. You can buy travel insurance from insurance companies, banks, travel agents, supermarkets, holiday companies and online comparison websites.
Often, travel insurance is included either as an extra benefit or service through your bank or credit card company as part of a package of services for which you pay a monthly or annual fee. Before you travel, always check to see how much you are paying or at least the value of the travel insurance element of the package and what you are covered for.
You may find cover is limited only to you or your spouse as account holders and does not extend to the wider family travelling with you. Some policies may include your children but have a condition that they are in full-time education and travelling with you as part of your group trip.
You will need to check whether there are upper age restrictions and if extreme sports activities, such as rock climbing, rafting or even bike hire, are covered. This is particularly important if you are participating in winter sports such as skiing, as some policies exclude these or limit cover to on piste skiing and won’t cover you if you venture off piste.
If you intend to do these types of activities you may be better off buying specific travel insurance for your trip.
Some policies also apply special conditions relating to health and medical conditions to travellers over the age of 65. You must disclose to your insurer any pre-existing medical condition and you may have to complete a medical questionnaire. This does not always result in a higher premium but insurers like to know of any additional risks. There are specialist travel policies in the market aimed at those above the age of 65 which may give you better cover and may not charge you more for it.
As a minimum, your travel policy should include cover for medical expenses, repatriation home from abroad If you are injured or ill, accident and injury abroad, damaged items, lost or delayed baggage and cover for cancellation or missed departures. The cheapest policy does not always offer the best value and always carefully consider your specific trip and what you need your travel policy to cover.
Finally, if you are a UK resident you can apply for a free UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) via the NHS website. This does not replace the need for proper travel insurance but allows you to obtain healthcare in EU countries at a reduced cost.
Why can’t my mother access pension cash?
My dad took out several pensions written under trust in which he was the only trustee and my mother was the beneficiary. Since he died, all have paid the money to my mother, bar one from Standard Life. It says we must first appoint a new trustee to pay the money to a beneficiary. In other words, my mother has to appoint herself as trustee to pay herself as a beneficiary. The company says that paying a beneficiary directly would mean bypassing the trustee. But there is no trustee because my dad is no longer here. Why can’t an executor instruct payment to a beneficiary when someone dies?
Carrie Duncan, probate partner at Withersworldwide law firm, says this issue arises because the trusts your father created with Standard Life and the other companies are distinct entities from the estate which passes under the terms of your father’s will. Your father’s executors are responsible for administering his will and the trustees appointed in respect of the Standard Life trust are responsible for administering it.
If there had been more than one trustee of the Standard Life trust, then on your father’s death, it would usually have been up to the surviving trustee to deal with the payment of the death benefit to the beneficiary of the trust. It is quite possible that the surviving trustee could have been someone other than the executor of your father’s will. It is also quite possible that the beneficiary could have been a different person from the trustee or the executor.
Our next question
I was recently fined by HM Revenue & Customs as result of my accountant preparing inaccurate tax returns for me. I have had to pay substantial additional tax as well as significant amounts to cover late payment interest and charges. Do I have a claim against my accountant and what would I need to do to bring a claim? Does it matter that the tax returns were filed many years ago, but HMRC has only alerted me to this issue now?
Of course, in the circumstances you describe, your father was the sole trustee. In this scenario, unless the trust document says otherwise, there is provision within trust legislation for the personal representatives of a sole or last surviving trustee to appoint a replacement trustee to act as a trustee in place of the deceased trustee. It would seem that this is what Standard Life is asking your mother to do — wearing her executor hat to appoint herself as a replacement trustee. Then, as a trustee, paying the money to herself as a beneficiary.
I appreciate that this starts to feel like a nonsense when all the different hats are worn by the same person. However, it should be noted that there is also provision within trust legislation which says that until new trustees are appointed, your mother — as executor of the sole trustee — is capable of exercising or performing any power or trust which your father, as trustee, would have been able to. This may well have been the basis upon which the other providers paid the benefits to your mother.
The terms of the particular trust deed should be reviewed to see whether there is anything else preventing Standard Life paying out the money, but it is probably worth reminding them of this statutory provision in case it is helpful in your case.
The opinions in this column are intended for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. The Financial Times Ltd and the authors are not responsible for any direct or indirect result arising from any reliance placed on replies, including any loss, and exclude liability to the full extent.
Do you have a financial dilemma that you’d like FT Money’s team of professional experts to look into? Email your problem in confidence to money@ft.com
