Dividing Pension

carlsberggal

My ex husband and I divorced a couple of years ago, after 2 year split, we had already divided the monies through a legal document from a solicitor. My question is this:

He has now said he feels bad as I don't have a pension as he always told me I didn't need one. So he wants to divide his pension, giving half to me. I have been told by an FA that unless it was in the divorce agreement he can't do it. But he said that he could go down a legal route to get it implemented. How do we go about this?

Any advice would be welcome

Debt_Free_Chick

The only way would be to get a variation of the Court Order - the one that confirms how the property/assets were split on divorce. He would need to speak to his solicitor about this. I'll bet it's not cheap and probably not easy either - but a solicitor will confirm the position.

jh2009

Assuming you look into this, the only two methods A pension scheme can use are:

1. A pension sharing (sometimes called splitting) order

or

2. A pension earmarking order

A sharing order will involve a part of his pension (eg 40%, 50%, etc) transferring into your own policy. You can then invest this as you wish and are free to decide when to retire, etc.

An earmarking order will involve part of his benefits being "allocated" to you, so that once in payment you will get a % of whats in payment. You may also have death or tax-free cash benefits allocated to you if these are taken. The main drawback is that you only receive benefits when he retires, and at his death, your benefits cease regardless of your financial situation.

The only other alternative is a private arrangement, where he looks after you by paying you part of his pension direct. Any payment though is neither legally binding on him or on the pension scheme that pays his pension to him.

A solicitor would explain the above in more detail though information is available on the internet. The following link gives more info on the subject. http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension_rights/divorce/

TMFTP

Or just remarry him and divorce again...