Annuitant meaning

The person entitled to receive the periodic payments under an annuity. In legal practice, this covers regular sums payable for life or for a fixed term under an insurance policy, pension annuity purchase, trust deed or will. The term is descriptive and used across insurance, pensions, trusts and estates, and tax. It appears in contracts and some legislation but has no single universal statutory definition. Usage is broadly consistent in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Key features include: payments calculated by reference to the annuitant’s life or a stated period; possible guaranteed minimum terms; and entitlement to each instalment as it falls due. Instruments may provide for a surviving dependant or reversionary annuitant. In pensions practice, a scheme member who buys a lifetime annuity from an insurer becomes the annuitant. Under a will or trust, the beneficiary entitled to an annuity legacy is the annuitant. Practical issues commonly considered include payment frequency, indexation, commutation or assignment restrictions, death benefits, and the governing law and tax treatment, which depend on the source instrument and the relevant UK or Irish legislation.