can a woman claim on her ex husband private pension?

building · 14 December 2005 at 4:12PM

my mum is not yet divorced from her ex husband. she was left with practically no money to live on and is now only getting the state pension. Her x is living on a good private pension. can she make any claim on his private pension? she is not a money grabber but has been left a little bit in the lurch. also she told me that he got extra in his pension for being married to her but never gave her a penny. she still had to work though he was benefitting from extra money. any ideas appreciated. thanking you in advance. :xmassign:

calleyw · 14 December 2005 at 4:20PM

The answer is possibly. As state and private pensions are different.

For state pensons it looks like she can use his contribution records to get full state pension rather than a reduced one on own her contribution record. If that gets her a better deal.

But with private ones it depends on the divorce settlement and what the courts decide.

There is an question and answer part of the way down this page

That is where I got the info above from.

Yours

Calley

EdInvestor · 14 December 2005 at 5:15PM

On divorce, the court can require him to split his private pensions with her.

If she is only getting the state pension, she is probably eligible for pension credit, a top-up benefit which will also mean she can apply for free council tax and housing benefit, if appropriate.

She should go see her local CAB for advice on this for the moment and as to what to do about the divorce.

CIS · 14 December 2005 at 6:08PM

For State Pensions she can claim under two different methods;

The first one is standard for divorcees in that they can benefit from their ex-husbands records in order to boost there own state pension if it is deficent ('substitution'). This is applied automtaically and without any appeal against it by the ex-husband, unless the wife requests that the pension be based only on her own records.

The second is independent of the first and involves a scheme called 'Pension Splitting on Divorce' (PSOD). This has in most cases to be actioned by a court and involves awarding a % of additional state pension to the other party at state pension age.

See NP46, page 86 onwards
http://www.mypersonalfinances.co.uk/SC_Docs/doclibrary/Guide_to_state_pension.pdf

dunstonh · 14 December 2005 at 6:35PM

Can we clarify if the pension is in payment. In otherwords its no longer a pension but an annuity that is being paid? Or is it a private pension that has yet to commence?

building · 16 December 2005 at 11:26AM

my mum paid all of NI up to date for state pension so did not need to claim on her husband (or ex husband to be) state pension. However as mentioned he gets a private pension or 2 from my understanding. as he gets lump sum payments per month i imagine that this is an annuity - bearing in mind that he is 70 and went into retirement at least five years ago. He gets about £1200 per month from what i understand and as he was married my mum told me he was getting at least £200 extra (not sure if state pension or private) because he was married to her (but she never got a penny of it and he did not help her financially in any way). at the moment she is living abroad. he is based in the UK. they are not yet divorced - been dragging the courts. any help appreciated as she will be seeking a divorce eventually from what i understand in the uk.

dunstonh wrote:

Can we clarify if the pension is in payment. In otherwords its no longer a pension but an annuity that is being paid? Or is it a private pension that has yet to commence?

NAR · 21 December 2005 at 1:48PM

building wrote:

they are not yet divorced - been dragging the courts. any help appreciated as she will be seeking a divorce eventually from what i understand in the uk.

As stated earlier this is subject to negotiation between the solicitors, but she should expect to get a third (at least) of his pension if he has made no other financial provision for her.

marin_2 · 26 December 2005 at 2:36AM

do the same rules apply in scotland?

building · 28 December 2005 at 8:26PM

is one third .thanks in advance.

NAR wrote:

As stated earlier this is subject to negotiation between the solicitors, but she should expect to get a third (at least) of his pension if he has made no other financial provision for her.

Dora_the_Explorer_5 · 28 December 2005 at 8:59PM

I think pension splitting of private pensions very much depends on how long the marriage lasted and as a last resort is decided by the divorce judge. Pension splitting will allow your mum to buy an annuity for herself which will continue to be paid to her if your dad dies before her, but may provide less income per month than say 50% of what his pension is.

NAR · 29 December 2005 at 1:26PM

building wrote:

is one third .thanks in advance.

Not saying that one third is the minimum; but this is based on personal experience and also a number of settled cases prior to mine. Depends on how good a solicitor/barrister is employed.

can a woman claim on her ex husband private pension?

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