Pension Sharing Order - incorrect info approved by court

gardenia101

I'm going around in circles & hope somebody can help me with a problem.

Long story short, my ex & I divorced & he set up a pension sharing order on my behalf.

It appears that on the Pension Sharing Annex his solicitors stated a % of his CETV to be transferred to me, but additionally stated a £figure based on the CETV they were given by him. The annex was passed through & stamped by the county court.

I never received a copy of the annex & neither did my ex (the court later admitted they were surprised to see both copies still in their file). In my innocence I just assumed he was dealing with it as it was coming from his pension (& he wasn't amazingly happy about it). This only came to light when I contacted his pension provider for a statement of my share & they said they didn't know anything about me.

His pension provider will not accept the annex as it should either state a % or a figure but not both (& of course they only agreed on the old CETV paperwork so the £figure would be different from the CETV date to be calculated on the day the PSO was granted).

The county court are saying it is up to his pension people to sort it out, & his pension people say I have to go to court as they've made a mistake, but the court aren't having it. They say the annex cannot be changed.

My ex will not approach his useless solicitors to sort it out, & they made so many errors I don't blame him, so I'm feeling stuck.

I'm reluctant to pay for a solicitor to sort this out for me if I can do it myself - any ideas anyone? Thanks.

xylophone

I'm reluctant to pay for a solicitor to sort this out for me if I can do it myself - any ideas anyone? Thanks.

Did you employ a solicitor to act on your behalf in the divorce settlement?

If so, what does he have to say about the matter?

If not, I think that in your position I would engage one without delay - if you are not at fault then any costs can be claimed from whoever is?

gardenia101

xylophone wrote: »

Did you employ a solicitor to act on your behalf in the divorce settlement?

If so, what does he have to say about the matter?

If not, I think that in your position I would engage one without delay - if you are not at fault then any costs can be claimed from whoever is?

I didn't employ a solicitor at the time - my ex & I had already parted on good enough terms some years before we actually got around to sorting the paperwork, which we did when he wanted to get remarried.

I trusted my ex not to screw me & his children financially, & we worked through all the finances together & jointly decided what was fair. He decided he'd divorce me & do all the paperwork as we thought it would be simpler (& yes, cheaper - at the time of the divorce I was self employed, looking after 2 children under 7 & undergoing some major health problems so I was thankful to have one less thing to do).

Ex has now approached his pension people (who of course will not advise me) who have told him he must contact his solicitor. Which he has now done & they insist that his pension people have misunderstood the pension annex form.

If the court, his pension people & his solicitors can't agree on what to do I can't imagine throwing another solicitor into the mix will help...

Does anyone have any experience of this happening before? Thanks.

xylophone

they insist that his pension people have misunderstood the pension annex form.

There is an impasse - you need advice on your legal position; your husband's solicitors won't (or possibly can't) help, and the pension scheme won't ( or possibly can't) help; as far as I can see you need a solicitor?

The only other avenue of assistance might be the Pensions Advisory Service. http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/life-events/divorce/pension-sharing

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/when-things-go-wrong

gardenia101

Thanks Xylophone - I'll read through the links when kids are in bed.

I was afraid I'd need to see a solicitor. Rather annoying really when we thought it had all been sorted out by the professionals.

I assumed pension annex forms were standard forms & therefore couldn't be filled in wrongly. The form does clearly ask for a % of the CETV to be completed & doesn't mention a £figure at all, which ties in with what his pension people say.

But if his solicitor was wrong in putting down 2 entries for 1 question wouldn't the court have noticed it was wrong?

SallyG

The pension sharing order must only show percentages of the CETV - the shares can't be shown as a monetary value [used to be able to do that in Scotland though] and certainly never both .......so if the pension sharing annex which your ex's solicitor completed [that becomes the pension sharing order when the court issues it to the pension scheme] showed both % CETV and a monetary value the pension scheme had no choice but to refuse to implement it.
If your ex's solicitor completed the pension sharing annex incorrectly it's his job to put it right.
I reckon - ie don't know for sure - looks like your ex's sol goes back to court to explain/scrap the incorrect order and completes a correct pension sharing annex to become a correct pension sharing order the pension scheme can act on.
Can't help wondering though why the court didn't spot the elementary mistake and stop it instead of issuing an order that couldn't be implemented?

gardenia101

SallyG wrote: »

The pension sharing order must only show percentages of the CETV - the shares can't be shown as a monetary value [used to be able to do that in Scotland though] and certainly never both .......so if the pension sharing annex which your ex's solicitor completed [that becomes the pension sharing order when the court issues it to the pension scheme] showed both % CETV and a monetary value the pension scheme had no choice but to refuse to implement it.
If your ex's solicitor completed the pension sharing annex incorrectly it's his job to put it right.
I reckon - ie don't know for sure - looks like your ex's sol goes back to court to explain/scrap the incorrect order and completes a correct pension sharing annex to become a correct pension sharing order the pension scheme can act on.
Can't help wondering though why the court didn't spot the elementary mistake and stop it instead of issuing an order that couldn't be implemented?

This would make more sense to me - his solicitors have said that we'll need to go back to court to get it all redone & I don't know if ex has told them that he isn't paying for it yet.

As to why the court didn't spot the mistake - the same court failed to send on the annex details to ex's solicitor (which they also failed to chase up when they didn't receive it). The same court also handed my copy of the Decree Absolute to my ex when he went to collect his in person as he needed it quickly. He said he'd drop it off to me & the court said that was fine.

Surprised me a little.

atush

If your ex's solicitors made the mistsake, in theory he should not have to pay the costs of going back to court- it should be done probono.

I would have him ask them to do it, then refuse to pay the extra costs as it was them fixing their mistake?

SallyG

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form-p1-eng.pdf

(v) The specified percentage of the member’s CEV to
be transferred: ― . ― %

hard to see how even a solicitor could get that wrong - but believing the "CEV " [aka CETV] is a fixed value is a warning triangle for the level of your ex's solicitor's expertise in pensions on divorce?
Hard to prove you lost out because of the delay in implementation - ie did the pension fund valuation/CEV offer rise or fall?

gardenia101

atush wrote: »

If your ex's solicitors made the mistsake, in theory he should not have to pay the costs of going back to court- it should be done probono.

I would have him ask them to do it, then refuse to pay the extra costs as it was them fixing their mistake?

These are my thoughts & hopefully that will be the outcome, but....

SallyG wrote: »

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/form-p1-eng.pdf

(v) The specified percentage of the member’s CEV to
be transferred: ― . ― %

hard to see how even a solicitor could get that wrong - but believing the "CEV " [aka CETV] is a fixed value is a warning triangle for the level of your ex's solicitor's expertise in pensions on divorce?
Hard to prove you lost out because of the delay in implementation - ie did the pension fund valuation/CEV offer rise or fall?

I agree with you Sally - it seems very clear to me, but his solicitors are adamant that they always provide a % & a £figure on the forms. Their also point out that if they were doing the forms incorrectly the court wouldn't have approved them, & everyone else would have had problems in implementing their PSOs.

Meeting ex this week to discuss, so hopefully he'll have some news. Thanks all.