spouse wants 50% of my pension in divorce

r6owned

hi all,

be greatful to know about the following..

I split with my ex last september, at the time she was ok with leaving the seperation up to the 2yr period, until she started studying the subject.

I'm ok with her being entiltled to 50% of my pension up to the day we seperated..

what i need to know, is what will be the legal perspective, to me taking the 25% cash (i'm 56) out of this pension now?
and or the divorce courts view?

the divorce I guess will be in the 2nd quarter of 2010.

thanks

dunstonh

ask your solicitor as its something you agree between both parties.

r6owned

what about if its not agreed, or I take the 25% before we get to this stage?

nomoneytoday

r6owned wrote: »

what about if its not agreed?

Then the lawyers will get more money

noh

r6owned wrote: »

what about if its not agreed, or I take the 25% before we get to this stage?

The divorce will not be granted unless there is a financial agreement.

Your ex is not specifically entitled to 50% of your pension.
You do need to talk to a solicitor.
See here for some info on pensions and divorce.
http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension_rights/divorce

r6owned

I'm going to see a solicitor weds...i guess when i get the 25% before the divorce is started, that will just be another asset that i have to split 50/ 50?

zzzLazyDaisy

If you take out 25% of the pension and spend it, knowing that a divorce is about to go through, that will be viewed by the courts as dissipating assets, and the court will take a very dim view (if it goes to court).

You have to give full details of your pension by way of a documents obtained from your pension provider so the fact that you have taken out 25% will be there in black and white for your wife and her lawyers to see (and the court, if it comes to that).

But don't take my word for it, I'm not a divorce lawyer - go and get legal advice.

r6owned

Hi Thanks to all, funny thing is that I wanted the 25% from the pension to help with my purchase her 1/2 of the house we shared.
so its looking like, If i'm able to get the 25% from my pension I need to split that with her, before I use the other half to sub the mortgage I need.....?

and yes I'm getting advice on wednesday, just trying to learn more about this whole sorry saga.

is the worth of my pension, at when we seperated, or prior to divorce?

zzzLazyDaisy

The value of your pension is as at the date that the pension provider gives the valuation. So you might be as well to get that done fairly quickly, although there is usually a cost, and of course pension valuations can go down as well as up.

The other thing is that sometimes an ex will agree to give up their claim on the pension in return for something else - perhaps a bigger share of the house, or being allowed to keep the family car, or whatever (depends on the value of the pension)

.

Debt_Free_Chick

The Courts require that the pension rights built up (accrued) during the marriage are taken into account when the finances are shared out. So the value of your pension WILL be included - however, it's not the case that the pension itself will need to be shared. Your ex-wife could receive other assets instead e.g. an extra share of any equity in a property, up to the value of her share of your pension.

Whatever her entitlement is e.g. 50% is a matter for negotiation, along with all the other finances.

Whatever you do with your pension now will not affect her entitlement. However, if you take your pension benefits now, then you are pretty much leaving yourself with no option other than to give her more of your other assets as a settlement. In other words, you are removing the option of a share of your pension, so she must get other assets instead. If you are hoping to avoid giving her anything at all (and it's not clear from your post, but I'm making no judgement at all ... just second-guessing), then you're scuppered. You were always scuppered though as the Form E disclosure asks about pension rights.

So.... you are free to take your pension, but the value of that pension - in whatever form it exists at the time - will be included in the joint finances and she will get her share of it, in one form or another.

HTH

r6owned

thanks to all... for your responses..

HTH... I want to use the 25% i can get as cash from my pension (over 56) to add to my 50% value of the house, so I can buy my ex out of her share. I have no other equity to offer her.
then when i get the mortgage it will be a little less painful for me to pay off over the next 10yrs.

so hypothetically if the 25% from my pension is worth 50k and I only take 25k, that should stay within the rules?? i hope that is a yes.. eeek! then that will make me marginally happy

not that helps or makes a difference, but she moved out, left me in the house and is divorcing me for un-reasonable behavoir, basically because she wants to secure her writs to 50% of my pension