Pension sharing on divorce advice needed.

bigmondy

Is there anywhere that gives good advice for the partner with the pension (me).

A few years ago it was to be avoided like the plague by those that have been paying a pension for years. I think it was better for the pension holder to give the spouse cash as a settlement. I dont have much.

My local govt final salary scheme has been on the go for 18 years - slap bang in the middle I was married for 9 years - my ex wife and I are about to resolve the final financial issues and a pension share seems the most likely outcome. My ex wife has dragged her heels over the past 5 years and it will hopefully be resolved this month.

I will try and put in some CETV (sp?) over the remainder of my working life (circa 15 years) to compensate for this reduction and I am unclear on the implications of all of the above and this on my pension.

Help?

xylophone

http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=211&p=0


PENSIONS AND DIVORCE



A GUIDE FOR MEMBERS OF
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PENSION SCHEME AND THEIR
SPOUSES

This Guide is dated 2001 - is there a more up to date version that your Administrators can provide?

http://www.lgps.org.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=100349 - advice from LGPS to the partner receiving the pension share.

Hope this helps?

bigmondy

Thanks xylophone will look that out.

Is it the most costly way for me to settle with my x was something I hoped to find out. I.E. should I be making the pension share as low as I can afford and paying as much cash as I can afford.

I am 53 by the way and the share is likely to be in the region of £30k out of my pension set aside in another for my x.

EDIT: also meant to ask, the CEV that we obtained for the pension immediately after the seperation is dated 2005. If I was to get a CEV for the same period of the marriage today - I assume that it will be exactly the same amount.

PS: I am happy to give my ex a share of the pension as it gives me peace of mind she will have something for her retiral and will reduce the burden on my sons. She has worked all her life as well but has not paid to any pension scheme as she never seen it as a priority..

atush

there is something called 'pension splitting' where instead of lumping the pension in with the rest of the assets and having to pay over some of those to the non pension spouse, they just split the pension in 2 and put half in each person's name as part of a divorce settlement.

xylophone

There is information here http://www.sharingpensions.co.uk/glossary19.htm#text5 with something on "off setting" but I'm not sure how much choice you have? Will not your ex-spouse's solicitor hold out for pension sharing? What does your own solicitor have to say?

bigmondy

xylophone wrote: »

There is information here http://www.sharingpensions.co.uk/glossary19.htm#text5 with something on "off setting" but I'm not sure how much choice you have? Will not your ex-spouse's solicitor hold out for pension sharing? What does your own solicitor have to say?

My ex's solicitor says she prefers to have the pension share transferred in to her name.

I guess it is the easiest thing for me to do and she is entitled to it - however there are other assets (approx £5k) that she is suggesting she takes the equivelant in value from my pension over and above her share.

So do I give her the full share she is entitled to and £5k cash or just add it to the pension share?

PS: I am not cash rich sadly and have 2 bin-lids to rear.

xylophone

I strongly suspect that £5000 added to the pension will be worth more eventually than £5000 in cash now.....? However, if you are cash poor and asset rich (well, relatively....), I suppose the asset might have to take the strain? Do you not have a solicitor to consult? Or perhaps the Scheme Administrators could advise?

GunJack

this was one of the sickest rules ever introduced, splitting a pension like this....the ex should be penalised for NOT contributing if she's been working herself. Why should the contributing person suffer ???

MrChips

bigmondy wrote: »

EDIT: also meant to ask, the CEV that we obtained for the pension immediately after the seperation is dated 2005. If I was to get a CEV for the same period of the marriage today - I assume that it will be exactly the same amount.

That is very unlikely. You are six years nearer to retirement so the fund value will have grown considerably - possibly by up to 50%.

Interest rates are also much lower now than then. So a higher value will be put on your benefits as it will be expected to receive less investment growth between now and your retirement.

Finally estimates of life expectancies have also grown which will also increase the value of your benefits.

bigmondy

xylophone wrote: »

I strongly suspect that £5000 added to the pension will be worth more eventually than £5000 in cash now.....? However, if you are cash poor and asset rich (well, relatively....), I suppose the asset might have to take the strain? Do you not have a solicitor to consult? Or perhaps the Scheme Administrators could advise?

I have a solicitor - same one has been screwing me for 5 years now - but he offers very little in the way of financial advice.

I take your point about the value - would ACV's ever get me close to covering my losses do you think?




Mr Chips, your post worries me - if the CETV was produced in 2005 - and that is the figure she is using to claim me for - is 5 years interest added to that figure now? :eek:

xylophone

Looking at http://www.lgps.org.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=100349, which is addressed to the partner receiving the pension share (your ex-wife in this case), it says "Your ex-spouse/ex-civil partner's pension fund administrator will have provided you with details of the value of your pension credit benefits, at the point of divorce/dissolution" - the assumption seems to be that everything will have been sorted out at that point? I think you might need to check with your administrator.

With regard to the AVC's, I would be surprised if they could make up the loss in its entirety but 15 years of them should certainly help! Ask your administrator for an estimate.

Do you really have to work until you are 68 or is this the choice you have made?