divorce and getting private pension payment from ex husband

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mum has been left in poverty after the husband abandoned her. she is in france (having lived years in the uk). her case has been in the french courts for at least 6 years. anyway her x has been living on good pensions whilst she cashed in the past to help him out by cashing in on some policies etc. to cut a long story short, one of his private pensions which pays an annuity are saying that a french court order cannot be applied in an english court. i find this hard to be believe. Could anyone help us with this? thanks in advance.

CIS

The best thing to do is to consult a solicitor who is a specialist on pension sharing orders in the UK or contacting a french solicitor who can tell you whtehr or not the order is enforceable outside of France.

As a thought, if they're arguing that a french ruling cant be applied here, why not try for a pension sharing order to be issued within the UK ? Might be worth talking to a solicitor about that option aswell.

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PLEASE COULD EXPLAIN do you mean go to a uk solicitor and tell him about situation? is that what you mean. sorry if ignorant!"why not try for a pension sharing order to be issued within the UK" thanks in advance for your help .

mum is saying this is going to be very costly? would you know anything about this. I suppose the law society might be able to enlighten us with right contact. as mum is on low income does anyone know if she could get low income help to do this in uk? am not sure she could but may need to be done via her french solicitor?

CIS wrote:

The best thing to do is to consult a solicitor who is a specialist on pension sharing orders in the UK or contacting a french solicitor who can tell you whtehr or not the order is enforceable outside of France.

As a thought, if they're arguing that a french ruling cant be applied here, why not try for a pension sharing order to be issued within the UK ? Might be worth talking to a solicitor about that option aswell.

CIS

A UK pension can be split as part of a divorce settlement, if the pension company are arguing that they cannot pay an order issued in france then a UK issued sharing order may be possible as the pension is UK based.

A UK solicitor may be able to find a way around the companies arguments and may be able to help get the french order enforced.

Does she know that she can also apply for a sharing order to be issued on his UK State Pension ?

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mum seems to say that she needs a court order for this (she said that someone at the newcastle had told her this - not sure that she used the right terms on this though - so maybe worth my while trying????):
"Does she know that she can also apply for a sharing order to be issued on his UK State Pension ?" really appreciate your help.

CIS wrote:

A UK pension can be split as part of a divorce settlement, if the pension company are arguing that they cannot pay an order issued in france then a UK issued sharing order may be possible as the pension is UK based.

A UK solicitor may be able to find a way around the companies arguments and may be able to help get the french order enforced.

Does she know that she can also apply for a sharing order to be issued on his UK State Pension ?

CIS

For the occupational scheme it was probably the IR at Newcastle (DWP Longbenton) she spoke to, its correct that a court order is needed but it may be the only way to enforce the payment of the money, Newcastle (DWP TyneView Park) is also where the State Pension Forecasting team are based for dealing with State Pension Sharing.

I used to work on one of the 3 sections who had people dealing with State Pension Sharing, although I personnaly didn't do too much with the sharing side myself.

The process needs a court order as well, unless the divorce was in Scotland in which case, IIRC, a mutual agreement can be used in place of the court order.

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any idea of cost for pension sharing court order?

CIS wrote:

For the occupational scheme it was probably the IR at Newcastle (DWP Longbenton) she spoke to, its correct that a court order is needed but it may be the only way to enforce the payment of the money, Newcastle (DWP TyneView Park) is also where the State Pension Forecasting team are based for dealing with State Pension Sharing.

I used to work on one of the 3 sections who had people dealing with State Pension Sharing, although I personnaly didn't do too much with the sharing side myself.

The process needs a court order as well, unless the divorce was in Scotland in which case, IIRC, a mutual agreement can be used in place of the court order.

CIS

Couldn't tell you as i never saw anything with individual costings on, we only got the finalsised paperwork.

You woudl only pay costs on the legal side, the State Pension side /IR side is completley free for the implementation.

Heres a bit of further info on the sharing
http://www.opas.org.uk/FrequentlyAskedQuestions/Divorce.htm