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Successor meaning

What does Successor mean?
In pensions practice, a successor is the individual who becomes entitled to a deceased beneficiary’s pension death benefits (for example, a successor’s flexi-access drawdown fund or annuity) under a UK registered pension scheme. In England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this is a tax-law term introduced from 6 April 2015 (Finance Act 2004, as amended, and HMRC Pensions Tax Manual). A successor must be a natural person; companies, trusts, charities and other organisations cannot be successors. A successor is commonly nominated by the preceding beneficiary (a dependant, nominee or earlier successor) to receive benefits on that beneficiary’s death. A successor may, in turn, nominate a further successor. The designation matters for the administration and tax treatment of pension death benefits, including eligibility for beneficiary drawdown or annuity and the income tax position (for example, where benefits arise following the original member’s death before or after age 75). Usage is broadly consistent across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Ireland, “successor” is not a defined pensions‑tax category; the term is used descriptively for a person who receives pension death benefits under scheme rules, with taxation determined by Irish legislation. Do not confuse this with “successor in title” or corporate succession.
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View the related Checklists about Successor

CHECKLISTS
Overage in secured property transactions: funder’s checklist on charge priority, excluding seller’s lien, restrictions, enforcement and successor covenants (England and Wales)

Funder’s primary objective When a buyer takes property subject to overage and seeks finance secured on that asset, a funder will require assurance that the overage provisions do not obstruct or curtail enforcement of its security. The lender must be confident its charge constitutes sound security over the property. Property and associated rights Assess the character of the site to be charged. Where it forms part of a broader development, consider whether, on a power of sale being exercised, the property will depend on rights over adjoining land held (or to be acquired) by the buyer, such as: rights of way rights concerning service media rights of support If such rights are necessary, agree a form of deed of easement to be annexed to the charge, and allow the funder to require grant of that easement when needed. Also examine whether the seller’s chosen mechanism for securing the overage is acceptable to a funder...

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CHECKLISTS
Agreements for lease due diligence: old/new tenancies, successor liability, reversionary acquisitions, breaches, and indemnities (England and Wales)

This Flowchart outlines the prerequisites that must be met for the court to find a transaction occurred at an undervalue and to order suitable relief...

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CHECKLISTS
PSD2 and UK Payment Services Regulations 2017: EU/UK payments regulatory timeline, RTS, guidance and post‑Brexit developments (2007–2026)

The original Payment Services Directive, 2007/64/EC (PSD1), took effect on 25 December 2007, with all Member States obliged to transpose it by 1 November 2009. In the UK, it was given effect via the Payment Services Regulations 2009, SI 2009/209 (the PSRs). Its purpose was to regulate payment service providers (PSPs) and bring greater harmonisation to the EU payments market. Yet developments in payment technology outpaced PSD1, leading the European Commission (Commission) in July 2013 to table a proposal for a successor measure, the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). PSD2, Directive 2015/2366, formally came into force on 13 January 2016. Member States were required to implement most of its provisions by 13 January 2018. PSD2 both absorbed and repealed PSD1...

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NEWS
GB energy regulatory update—TPIs regulation, SoLR Levy Offset, early competition and OHA pilot, DCC licence decisions, EU Energy Efficiency Directive guidance—26 September 2024

In this issue: Electricity and gas market regulation and licensing Networks and network connections Renewable energy Capacity Market, balancing services and energy system flexibility International energy Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Electricity and gas market regulation and licensing DESNZ launches consultation on regulating TPIs in the retail energy market The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has opened a consultation to bring Third Party Intermediaries in the retail energy market under regulation, bolstering consumer protection and aiding the shift to a cleaner energy system. Triggered by cases of consumers and businesses being targeted by unregulated rogue brokers and other TPIs, this forms part of the government’s ongoing support for Ofgem to develop an effective market for non-domestic customers, alongside implementing recommendations from Ofgem’s July 2023 non-domestic policy consultation. The consultation closes on 15 November 2024. See: LNB News 20/09/2024 36. Ofgem launches statutory consultation on SoLR Levy Offset...

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NEWS
Scots law: Inner House confirms presumption that successor partnerships inherit pension scheme debts where business continuity exists, including liabilities arising from later scheme changes

Scottish Pension Fund Trustees Ltd v Marshall Ross & Munro and others [2018] CSIH 39 What are the practical implications of this case? While appearing to be a ‘pensions’ dispute, the judgment has far wider relevance for the commercial sector. It advances the reconciliation between a strictly technical view of partnership law in Scotland and the practical realities of day-to-day business operations. The court confirmed that, where a business has traded as a single continuing entity over time, there is a presumption under Scottish law—absent in English law—that liabilities transfer to successor partnerships. In this matter, the onus fell on the party with specific knowledge of how each partnership alteration occurred to rebut that presumption. A central policy reason is the protection of creditors. Of broader importance is the dicta of Lord Drummond Young, who reiterates two significant principles in the context of a pension scheme: firstly, pension schemes ...

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NEWS
UK energy law and policy update, 19 June 2025: Ofgem licensing guidance, code changes, Capacity Market decisions, offshore wind and hydrogen investments, CCS funding, smart metering (DCC) reforms, fusion prototype.

In this issue: Key developments and materials Electricity and gas market regulation and licensing Electricity Code Modifications Renewable energy Capacity Market, balancing services and energy system flexibility Nuclear energy Air emissions, efficiency, and climate change International energy Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Key developments and materials Spending Review 2025—Key Energy and Environment announcements On 11 June 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, laid before Parliament the government’s Spending Review 2025 (SR25). This News Analysis spotlights the SR25 announcements and pledges most pertinent to the energy and environment sectors. See News Analysis: Spending Review 2025—Key Energy and Environment announcements. Access secured to six market-leading energy law titles We are pleased to confirm that we have recently broadened our Lexis+ Legal Research service by obtaining an exclusive licence from Globe Law and Business to publish six market-leading energy...

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View the related Practice Notes about Successor

PRACTICE NOTES
Scottish Private Client Practice Glossary: Succession, Trusts, Guardianship and Property Terms with England and Wales Equivalents

A glossary of frequently used terms and phrases in Scottish Private Client law, with the closest England and Wales equivalents (where applicable) and links to helpful websites Ab intestato Meaning From someone who dies without a will; describes property taken under the laws of intestate succession. Nearest English equivalent None Action of specific implement Meaning A court action seeking an order compelling a party to carry out a particular act. In Scotland there is no division between equitable and legal remedies, unlike England and Wales. Nearest English equivalent Specific performance (an equitable remedy for breach of contract that can be ordered alongside, or in place of, damages) Advance notice Meaning An entry in the relevant property register that protects the grantee of a deed intended for registration in the Land Register of Scotland. The protected period of 35 days begins on the day after registration....

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PRACTICE NOTES
Re-use of Insolvent Company Names: Directors’ five-year restriction, prohibited names, exceptions, criminal offence and personal liability under IA 1986 ss 216–217 (England and Wales)

Offence of re-using company name without permission The Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) curtails the re-use of a company’s name for five years where, in the year leading up to insolvency, any director or shadow director of the insolvent company becomes involved with the successor entity (see Who is caught by the restriction?). A director must not participate in a business that adopts the identical legal or trading name, or a name so alike as to imply a link with the earlier company, unless an exception applies (see Scope of restriction). Importantly, this curb is imposed on the individual rather than the company itself, as there are numerous innocent or practical reasons why different companies may carry the same or a comparable name. Under IA 1986, s 216, breaching this curb constitutes a criminal offence, and section 217 is aimed at removing the financial attraction of exploiting insolvency by allowing creditors to seek to pierce the corporate veil and by rendering any director (or any accomplice) who contravenes section...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Retirement of Trustees in England and Wales: TA 1925 ss 36 & 39; TOLATA 1996 s 19; Beneficiary Consent, Court Orders and Indemnities

Although the trusteeship is, in theory, held for life, a trustee can step down in several ways: by relying on a clause in the trust instrument if a successor can be found, retirement may proceed under section 36 of the Trustee Act 1925 (TA 1925) by using the statutory authority in TA 1925, s 39 through the beneficiaries’ written direction under section 19 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA 1996) with the beneficiaries’ agreement under the rule in Saunders v Vautier by an order of the court under TA 1925, s 41 Express provision in the trust instrument that a trustee may unilaterally retire A trust instrument may confer on a trustee an express, unilateral power to retire. That said, some view such a term as encouraging a less diligent trustee to choose ‘the easy way out’. The instrument might also provide for automatic retirement once a stated age is reached. ...

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PRECEDENTS
Precedent Application Notice (Form IAA): Leave under Insolvency Act 1986 s216 to Act as Director of Successor Company (England and Wales)

APPLICATION NOTICE Form IAA pursuant to Rule 1.35 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 Court Reference No. [ insert number ] [ IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS [ OF ENGLAND AND WALES OR IN [ insert location ] ] INSOLVENCY AND COMPANIES LIST (ChD) OR IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CHANCERY DIVISION [ insert location ] DISTRICT REGISTRY OR IN THE COUNTY COURT AT [ insert location ] ] IN THE MATTER OF [ insert company name ] AND IN THE MATTER OF SECTION 216 OF THE INSOLVENCY ACT 1986 Between [ insert name ] (Applicant) and [ insert name ] (Respondent) 1 This application is brought under section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986...

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PRECEDENTS
Deed of covenant by transferee to assume existing overage obligations and procure successor covenants on future disposals (England and Wales)

Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Covenantor, that is the party providing the covenant ] [ of OR a company incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Covenantor) [ name of Covenantee, that is the party who benefits from the covenant ] [ of OR a company incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Covenantee) Recitals This deed is made supplemental to a deed (the Original Deed) dated [ date ], entered into between (1) the Covenantee and (2) [ name of relevant party ] (the Original Covenantor). Under clause [ number ] of the Original Deed, the Original Covenantor agreed with the Covenantee not to effect any Disposal of the Property unless it ensures that the person in whose favour the Disposal is to occur executes and delivers...

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PRECEDENTS
Income Payments Agreement (IPA) precedent under section 310A Insolvency Act 1986 (England and Wales)

Income Payments Agreement This Agreement is entered into by: [ FULL NAME ] of [ ADDRESS ] (the Bankrupt) [ FULL NAME ] of [ FIRM AND FIRM’S ADDRESS ], serving as [ joint ] trustee of the Bankrupt’s estate, together with any successor[ s ] in office, without personal liability (the Trustee) Background On [ DATE ], the [ COURT ] made a bankruptcy order against the Bankrupt under case number [ CASE NO ]; on [ DATE ], the Trustee was appointed to act as trustee of the Bankrupt’s estate. The Bankrupt has supplied the Trustee with a statement of monthly income and expenditure and, having considered the reasonable domestic needs of the Bankrupt and [ his OR her OR family ], the Trustee is of the view that the Bankrupt has surplus monthly income that can be claimed for the benefit of the Bankrupt’s estate...

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View the related Q&As about Successor

Q&As
LRA 2002 s.4 rentcharges: first registration and transfer validity

The general rule The general rule is that when a buyer of a freehold interest enters into covenants with the seller, although the burden of restrictive obligations will in many instances bind a successor in title, positive duties requiring the covenantor to act do not run when the freehold is conveyed. A rentcharge operates as a device by which a monetary duty can pass to the successor of the initial buyer. There is no issue, as a matter of contractual privity, in imposing on the purchaser a contractual obligation to pay the seller for the supply of services relating to the land; however, matters become more intricate once the seller transfers the freehold estate to a third party. The rentcharge nonetheless entitles its holder to demand regular periodic payments of money from the owner of the freehold estate. It is not a mortgage, because it does not function as security for a debt...

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Q&As
Successor liability for pre-incorporation partnership mesothelioma

In occupational disease matters, it is common that the claimant was employed many years ago by an entity that has ceased trading, changed its name, or shifted liabilities within intricate corporate groups. Defence solicitors may challenge the identity of any proposed defendant within their defence, and resolving such questions well before the commencement of proceedings is always desirable. Accurately naming the parties to the claim from the outset is particularly important in order to avoid incurring unnecessary costs later on, for example in having to discontinue against a party and/or amend the claim form, and to prevent any potential problems in respect of limitation...

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Q&As
Agreement for lease: successor covenants (LT(C)A 1995) and enforceability of unregistered concessions

Question 1 This reply proceeds on the basis that the agreement for lease amounts to a ‘new tenancy’ for the purposes of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995). Stated broadly, the combined operation of LT(C)A 1995, ss 2 and 3 is that the benefit and the burden of all ‘landlord covenants’ and ‘tenant covenants’ of a ‘tenancy’ (as those expressions are given in LT(C)A 1995, s 28) pass with the reversion and, correspondingly, the term, unless LT(C)A 1995 provides otherwise...

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