Pension Entitlement

[holly247]

I am 74 my wife is 61 . We have been married nearly 40 years but have lived apart for the last twenty . We see each other most days and get along fine , just both prefer having our own places . No other partners etc. involved . My wife lives off a small income from a trust fund . This income is shrinking year by year . She is 5 or 6 years away from retirement age ( at the moment ! ). My question is whether my wife will get a goverment pension when she eventually reaches the age of retirement as she has not paid in any contributions . Will my contributions suffice . We have never legally separated . T.I.A.

[bobbinwales]

Has she gone on line or asked to get a state pension forecast?

[Peter Pedant]

yes
from the internet

A married woman who has never worked may be able to claim some entitlement to a state pension based on her husband's National Insurance contributions. A fantastic tool called the State Pensions Profiler can estimate your wife's entitlement to a State Pension based on your answers to some simple questions.

and if you ggoogle state pensions profiler
you get this

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

[Thisoldbird]

I have only ever recieved a small state pension having paid a married womans stamp.
Recently widowed I thought my state pension would be topped up from my husbands contributions..apparently that system stopped a few years ago.
Instead my state pension is topped up with Pension Credit?
I'm not sure if your wife would get the same