Why would my husband's solicitor advise him to get a pensions actuary report?

peach_2

Hi I am trying to divorce my husband after finally plucking up the courage. He vowed to put every obstacle in my way and seems to be doing a pretty good job. He has paid into a local govt. pension for 35yrs. I paid into a local govt pension full time for 6yrs and part time for 8. We both have our CETVs and obviously my husband's is much larger than mine. His solicitor has advised him to get a pension actuary report. I don't really understand why. Can anyone help? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

chris_m

Presumably to ascertain whether or not you might be entitled to some of it and, if so, how much. Although, as it's his solicitor, it may be to confirm that you're not :-(

CLAPTON

you need your own solicitor

xylophone

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/workplace-pension-schemes/final-salary-schemes/divorce
http://www.lgps.org.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=100349
might be worth a read.
http://www.solicitalawyer.co.uk/lawyer-blog/2011/10/why-you-need-a-divorce-solicitor/
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law

peach_2

I have a solicitor and seeing them next week - just trying to get some info to make best use of her time (and save me £ by not asking stupid questions) Chris - M why do think I wouldn't be entitled to any of my husband's pension? It's what I dread.
Xylophone thanks for useful web links.

jamesd

An actuary will determine estimated life expectancy. That will help to determine how much the transfer values should be. The values assumed in the CETV calculation won't necessarily be accurate.

There is no reason that you wouldn't have some entitlement to your husband's pension, though a CETV might be used to greatly reduce that, say if you wanted to keep a property and trade some of the CETV value for his portion of the value of the property. Trading the CETV in this way is likely to make you worse off long term because CETVs are likely to under-estimate the true value of the future pension payouts.

chris_m

peach wrote: »

Chris - M why do think I wouldn't be entitled to any of my husband's pension? It's what I dread.

No reason that I can think of but a smart brief without equally smart representation on your behalf might manage something.
I hope it doesn't go that way, but you need your solicitor to make sure they cover all bases to avoid it.

SallyG

Your husband's pension is up for sharing on divorce like everything else including your pension.
Not sure if he'll have a second state pension SERPS/S2P with a LGPS pension - ?contracted out?. Check whether he has because that can be shared on divorce but can't be shared afterwards.
An actuary's report for divorce purposes should be a joint effort to hold water at court - [there's a court protocol for instructing a joint expert.] You should concentrate on the value of the guaranteed income and ask the actuary what % of the CETV will equalise the income produced from the pension for each at say age 65.
Check whether your share would have to stay in the LGPS pension and if so what rules would apply to your LGPS pension credit pension - eg what age can you take a full pension - is it index-linked?
For offsetting/swapping your fair share of the pension for something else - the opposition will argue for your presumed half share of the CETV to be reduced by as much as 25% for swapping for a bigger share of the family home etc.
There's an LGPS website as a starting off point for investigating your deal on pension sharing.
Once LGPS have received Form A - the financial order application form which must be sent to any pension being considered for sharing - you can send them a copy to make sure they've got it - it's worth approaching LGPS for a copy of the rules that apply to pension credit members /ex-spouses becoming members by sharing on divorce.
The pension sharing regulations entitle the prospective ex-spouse member to request basic information about how your share will be dealt with by the scheme or your husband could ask them to complete the official pension inquiry form Form P.