Who will get my pension savings if I die before I retire?

You can update your expression of wish any time by contacting your pension provider. If you have an online account, many providers will also have the form online. Any new form you complete will take priority over older ones.

If you can't find it online, call your pension provider who will be able to tell you where to find the relevant part of their website, or to send you a form through the post. 

This depends on what kind of pension you have.

• Money-purchase pensions (also know as 'defined-contribution' pensions).  Anyone can be named – this could be a partner, relative, child, friend or even an acquaintance. You can also usually nominate charities, if you wish to. 
  
  
• Final salary schemes (also know as 'defined-benefit' pensions). You  can’t just nominate anyone, but you can nominate people in accordance with the scheme rules. These vary between providers, so you'll need to check with yours.

Important: If you nominate someone under age 18, a pension provider will usually only be able to pay out to them if a trust or other suitable arrangement has been set up for them.

Most forms just ask for the details of who you want the pension paid out to, and give you relevant fields to do that, so you may not have to think about this.

However, some forms have a free text area, where you could specify what you would like to happen if the beneficiaries aren't around or can't be found.

But the most important point is to keep your wording as simple and to the point as possible. Avoid trying to cover a multitude of eventualities. Though it might be tempting to include highly specific scenarios, this can lead to an increased risk of misinterpretation.