Divorce and Pensions

looby75

NAR wrote: »

looby, am I right in assuming he has agreed to share cost of solicitor? (by way of split payment or coming out of financial settlement). If so remind him that every time the solicitor writes to him it costs money, so he is costing himself money; see if that helps.

Because I'm on benefits at the moment I'm getting legal aid which will cover the divorce unless he contests it, then he has to pay. I don't know if refusing to send his payslips in will count as contesting it though. We didn't have property or any saving together the only financial part will be his pension and a small life insurance policy we have together.

wanttosave

have you any kids with him ? if not is it worth it ? have you got a pension ?

looby75

I have 2 kids with him, I gave up my job/education (was doing A levels) to look after the kids. I was only 18 when we got married and was pg with dd and although I have worked part time over the years we were together I have never earned enough to contribute to a pension. I also helped support my ex through university so I am part of the reason he has a good job and pension now. I'm not being greedy or spiteful but I really do feel I'm due to a share. Any job I get now (am hunting at the moment but for a number of reasons, mainly childcare problems I haven't been successful yet) will most likely be part time minimum wage at least until my ds starts high school which won't be for another 5 years, by that time I will be 38 so it doesn't leave me a lot of time to build up a good pension of my own.

Toots that's a good question, I will ask my solicitor about that if I end up having to phone her.

NAR

looby75 wrote: »

Because I'm on benefits at the moment I'm getting legal aid which will cover the divorce unless he contests it, then he has to pay. I don't know if refusing to send his payslips in will count as contesting it though. We didn't have property or any saving together the only financial part will be his pension and a small life insurance policy we have together.

I'm wondering is your solicitor thinking of going after maintenance for you out of his salary? It is quite rare nowadays, but as you are getting very little else out of him then it is a possibility. This may not be in your best interests as you are on benefits, so check this with your solicitor. Pension splits are dealt with on a case by case basis, but your OH might not be too happy to hear he has to give up a third or a half of his pension, which is a possible outcome.
Anyway good luck with this, I hope it gets sorted quickly. :beer:

Spendless

looby75 wrote: »

I've told him to phone her office and talk to her about it but he just keeps saying he hasn't got 6 months payslips and can't get copies

I also think he's lying as I had to get copy payslips to claim maternity allowance, all I did was ask the wages dept for copies. I'd echo the suggestions that you speak to you solicitor about the consequences of him not handing over the payslips.

Errata

Don't get fluffy about getting a share of his pension. You're entitled to it by law.

looby75

Errata wrote: »

Don't get fluffy about getting a share of his pension. You're entitled to it by law.

I know, he knows it too, it's not the pension he's bothered about it's handing over his payslips for some reason.

Debt_Free_Chick

The payslips are nothing to do with sharing the pension rights. Any share of the pension is made by taking the value of the pension on a particular date - that value will include all the contributions made, up to that point in time.

The payslips must be a different issue - which your solicitor can confirm.

Debt_Free_Chick

Errata wrote: »

Don't get fluffy about getting a share of his pension. You're entitled to it by law.

I don't want to be unnecessarily picky, but ought to clear this up in case others are misled.

You are not entitled to a share of the pension, as such. The value of pension rights should be included in the overall finances of each party. However, the parties can agree that the total finances can be split in such a way so as to avoid sharing the pension itself. So you might agree to have £x more of the value of the house, in exchange for giving up a share of the pension.

You are correct that the value of pension rights is to be taken into account - but many divorcing couples agree to adjust the other part of the financial settlement and leave the pensions untouched.

HTH

looby75

Thanks,

crisis is over now LOL He's calmed down and agreed to send in what ever the solicitor asks for. I think him refusing to send his payslips in was just a knee jerk reaction to me actually going through with making a claim on his pension. So far I've pretty much let him have his own way on most things so I think he expected me to back down on this too.

Thanks for the advice everyone, fingers crossed it will be straightforward from here on in. (yeah right lol)