Take care of elderly parents to inherit pension

Take care of elderly parents to inherit pension By Aman Sharma in New Delhi IF YOU are hoping to inherit the pension amount of your elderly parents, then start caring for them. Besieged with reports of pensioners being neglected by their children in their old age, the government is planning to withdraw its directive that the life- time arrears of a pensioner after his death would automatically pass on to the next in line in the family or the legal successor. The ministry of personnel will be meeting on September 27 where it could be decided that a pensioner can now nominate any person, even a nonfamily member, to be entitled to the amount in his pension account after his death. This, the government says, would ensure that children take proper care of their parents in their old age if they want them to be appointed the nominees. “ Life- time arrears that accrue to family pensioners belong to them and should not go automatically to their legal successors or eligible successors. It may, therefore, be appreciated that the family pensioner should have the discretion to pass on his or her lifetime arrears to any person of his or her choice. The government’s directive that this should automatically pass on to the eligible member of the family’s next in line or to the legal successor, therefore doesn’t stand to reason,” the meeting’s agenda paper says. The paper also says that it has come to the government’s notice that family pensioners at times “ do not get attention or support” from the eligible successors. “ If they have the discretion to pass on their life- time arrears to any person of their choice, they will get better attention and can reward the person who looks after them when they were alive,” the agenda paper says. It adds that the government will hence review the matter and family pensioners could be permitted to avail the nomination facility in respect of their life- time arrears. The amount is significant as pensioners generally accumulate money in their pension accounts and also get arrears upon implementation of the pay commissions with retrospective effect.