Forces pension on divorce

johnwey

Hello

Can any sharp minded people take a look please........


Served 14 years in the armed forces . married for 12 off them

No Children , married for 23 years to date

Got medically discharged after 14 years and receive a tax free pension of £660 per month . Also receive a war disablement pension of £140 per month tax free. both pensions in payment now

Going through a divorce and before I instruct a solicitor I need opinions please

Me and my soon to be X Wife are both 49 years old

She has already said that she would take £26,000 to leave my pension alone , to come out of the sale of the house

I worked out that I was going to offer her 1/2 of 12/14ths of the £660 which works out as £285 per month . She is not entitled to any of the war pension by law

She has been in the civil service for just over 7 years so I would have to factor in this against my offer , but I know it's not a great pension yet

So if I say that the £285 per month gets rounded down to say £240 per month taking in her pension , would you go for this option or go for a clean break and give her 26k ? then we both keep our pensions ?

The monthly payment would be for life unless I die or she re marries

My wife earns 20k per year and my income from being self employed including the pensions is 21k per year , so virtually the same

I know I Should see a solicitor and get CETV's done , but if 26k is a good deal for me I dont want to cheese her off , make her go to court and also spend loads on legal fees

I expect she doesn't want a pension sharing order as it won't pay out until she is 60 and an attachment order would stop if she re marries or I die . So she may be looking at pound signs ?

Just don't want it to go to court and judge gives her more also if her solicitor sees my CETV he may realise it could be potentially worth more than 26k to her

It works out about 9 years of the monthly payments if I give her the lump sum

Any advice please ?

SallyG

Just from people's experiences on Wikivorce - lots on there about AFPS - judges are recently much more reluctant to sign even an "agreed" Consent Order that might look less than careful /equitable about the value of a final salary/guaranteed income pension - especially if either side is unadvised - without supporting evidence on your pension value you're much more likely to be called in for a judgely chat even if she agrees to offsetting.

johnwey

Thanks , I appreciate it

bigadaj

I wouldn't discount the value of her pension, the transfer value of this could be worth many tens of thousands, so it isnt necessarily the case that she would be the one missing out.

johnwey

Just looked on wikivorce . helpful thanks

just wondering if anyone else had an opinion please

jamesd

The offer that she has made you is generous towards you. I suggest that you accept it unless the medical issues have substantially reduced your life expectancy to the point that you may not live nine years. I don't know whether you've included the effect of pension inflation linking or the potential value of investing the lump sum. I've also ignored the value of her pension and this will significantly shift the deal in her favour, but probably not enough.

If you do go the CETV route then definitely do check the value of her pension since it could well be large enough to significantly reduce how much you'd lose from yours.

johnwey

Thanks James

The medical issues are ok

still dont know what to do . pay 26k or go the CETV route and may end up costing me more

solicior wont advise me without a CETV and by then the wife may be cheesed off and want more