Divorce and pension

adb2303

Hi everyone,

I'll be getting divorced soon, and although we've split possessions, sold the house and sorted out child care, etc. my ex has recently mentioned my pension and I have no idea where to start.

We were married in Oct 2008, separating in June 2012. I have a 5 year old daughter. My wife now has a boyfriend of 1 year.
I am 36 years old and have been making pension contributions since I was 20.

Can anyone advise me what I might expect in terms of settling pension division?

Many thanks
Andrew

VestanPance

Speak to your lawyer. She may be entitled to part of your pension.

Gigglepig

Do you know what your ex wife expects/would be happy with? (So that you can sort it out amicably without wasting money on legal expenses?)
And can you afford to pay her out?
Does she want money now or later?

Do you think she would accept half of what you paid in?
Say if your annual salary was 30k and you paid 10% of your income into your pension in the 4 years you were married, that would be 3k x 4 years so 12k. would she accept half that sum? This does not take into account interest etc but she would get the money now rather than later.

Alternatively, would she accept half of the amount the fund itself went up in that 4 year period?

Or is she asking for half the total value?

adb2303

Hi,

Thanks for the quick replies; it's appreciated.

I swapped jobs in the time we were together, so working out exactly how much i contributed to my pension during that period may be a bit tricky... but not impossible. I'm starting to do that work now.

She hasn't said a great deal yet... that is, whether she wants a payment up front, or for me to divert part of my pension fund to hers, or even what proportion she's expecting.

I "thought" what was fair would be half of the contributions made during the period we were married, i.e. 4 years. But, if she comes to me and says she wants half of my entire pension, I'm trying to figure out whether that's a lawful entitlement.

Thanks again

NAR

As part of the divorce you will need to draw up a Financial Consent Order which details the split of the marital finances. I would recommend you get a "Clean Break" Order, which means neither party can come back after the other should their financial circumstances change ie inheritance , lottery win etc.

I would suggest you employ a solicitor experienced in divorce matters to act on your behalf. They will advise, taking into consideration what you have already agreed, what pension split should be considered reasonable. Your ex's pension will also come into consideration.

sportbeth

Your ex is technically entitled to half of your pension contributions whilst you were together, some might argue just for the duration of the marriage. You can get a pension valuation for your consent order, this would be needed to get it past a judge anyway. But she's not entitled to half of your entire pension if that covers a period before you met her

Hope this helps. Wikivorce is a good source of info if you want to google a few answers tonight. This forum is good but that is solely for divorce advice so it's good to read through as well

adb2303

thanks everyone for your valuable advice

NAR

sportbeth wrote: »

Your ex is technically entitled to half of your pension contributions whilst you were together, some might argue just for the duration of the marriage. You can get a pension valuation for your consent order, this would be needed to get it past a judge anyway. But she's not entitled to half of your entire pension if that covers a period before you met her

Sorry this is not necessarily correct. His (and her) pensions are just part of the marital assets, which are up for division as part of the Financial Consent Order.
Which is why he needs to discuss with a solicitor what has been amicably agreed to date regarding marital finances. It may well be that a solicitor will advise he has given enough already and that he should refuse any pension split. At the end of the day a judge will only sign a Financial Consent Order if he feels it is fair to both parties.