Divorce and my pension

RDT72

Hi, my wife left me last July for a younger model and it just happened to be the same month I started my work place pension, I've been reading on lots of sites that your ex can claim half of your pension, my question is would she have a claim to any of my pension? Even tho the pot was non existant when we split?
Thanks

xylophone

Not non existent, just not yet commenced?

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/dividing-pensions-on-divorce-or-dissolution

RDT72

It's now been running for 8 months, the same time we have been separated

RDT72

Basically, would she have any claims to monies I plan to pay in to my pension in the future ?

jamesd

While you're still married, yes, assuming you're in England or Wales. Remember that you also have a base 50% claim to her pensions. Please do say whether you are in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland because the answers can be different and can cause wrong answers if we just assume England and Wales.

If either of you did paid work you'd have an earnings-related Additional State Pension pot that can be split, even if you didn't pay into any pension explicitly.

bouicca21

The pension can't be considered without the context of the overall financial picture. You need to be thinking of all the assets - house, life insurance, savings, debts - and how they should be divided. And the nature of the division is in itself going to reflect other factors like how long you were married (plus cohabitation if any), incomes, dependent children, and your ages. If for example she is a lot younger than you, she may be considered to have enough time to build her own pension pot. If you are similar ages it's a bit different.

And, yes knowing whether you are in Scotland or in England and Wales makes a difference.

You might find it useful to post on wikivorce.

atush

So it would be best to get on with a final split earlier rather than later.

and your pot at 8 months is presumably small enough she might take other assets instead if you wanted to.

RDT72

Thanks everyone, were in England, just starting divorce proceedings, ive already paid her 50% equity of the house as she needed cash to move out and clear her personal debts ect, she has a pension pot of approx. £10,000, so this sounds like I might come out better off, so in short anything I put in my pension pot after the divorce, she cant touch?

jamesd

Right, as soon as the divorce is final the money going in is not part of the divorce proceedings.