Pension and divorce

julsxx

Hi, I am about go to go through a divorce and am worried about my finances.
We separated in 2005 and are now going through the divorce. I used my share of the equity on the sale of the matrimonial home in 2005 to put a deposit on a house for me and our two young boys.
I have since moved again and would like to know if he has any claim on my property.
Also, I am trying to get the 25% of my pensions and have been told there is a pension sharing order and so can not get this sorted until the divorce goes through.
Will my husband be able to claim half of my pension?
He is on a very good wage, runs 2 motorbikes and drives a Mercedes and goes on several holidays a year. I am on minimum wage and struggle on a monthly basis which is why I was trying to get the pension money.
Any advice would be really helpful.
Thanks

quotememiserable

How much of each other's pensions you will get is whatever you agreed in the divorce settlement, and will be set out in the Consent Order. You won't be able to access the pension til the order is exucted, but the company concerned have to sort that within a fixed time (12? weeks I think) so if it's longer than that since you applied for the sharing order to be executed you need to get onto them.
From what you've said you've used your share of the house to buy it, so he has no claim on it. But again, the Consent Order will tell you. If you don't have it, ask you solicitor for it. That's your legally binding divorce settlement.

Sambella

If his pension is bigger than yours he is unlikely to get any of yours I would imagine.

As the house you shared appears to have been sold and you both got something out of it it is unlikely that he will get anything from your current home.

Surely you get child maintenance from him and if on minimum wage tax credits and child tax credit also plus child benefit?

mgdavid

quotememiserable wrote: »

How much of each other's pensions you will get is whatever you agreed in the divorce settlement, and will be set out in the Consent Order. You won't be able to access the pension til the order is exucted, but the company concerned have to sort that within a fixed time (12? weeks I think) so if it's longer than that since you applied for the sharing order to be executed you need to get onto them.
From what you've said you've used your share of the house to buy it, so he has no claim on it. But again, the Consent Order will tell you. If you don't have it, ask you solicitor for it. That's your legally binding divorce settlement.

I read in post #1:-
"and are now going through the divorce."

I take that to mean there is no divorce settlement or Consent Order.

DancingBadger

julsxx wrote: »

I am trying to get the 25% of my pensions and have been told there is a pension sharing order and so can not get this sorted until the divorce goes through.

Whether you will be able to access the 25% tax free element of your pensions is dependent on your age regardless of when your divorce is finalised. (I'm assuming you're referring to pensions in your own name and not those of your husband.)

You mention a pension sharing order. Does this mean you have a Consent Order which has been stamped by the court?

If not, under no circumstances should you allow the divorce to be finalised without a Consent Order being in place. The order should clearly set out all the financial details of your divorce, including maintenance for your children (and you, if necessary), housing, asset splitting, pension sharing and how any outstanding debts are to be repaid.

Number75

You cannot have a Pension Sharing Order without a Consent Order and a Decree Absolute.

How has this not been sorted out since 2005?!!!

Yes, in theory he could try to claim your house is a marital asset, but your solicitor will tell him to go whistle, as I think would a judge if you've got a clear paper trail that shows it came from a split of equity of the marital home.

With regards to your pension, yes, he has a valid claim on it. As do you on his, and other assets.

Did you have a separation agreement with a solicitor? Did you at least document at the time how you had both agreed to manage the split?

You need to speak to a solicitor, it's too specific for the general advice you can get here.

julsxx

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have not had any paperwork from the courts, the company I am trying to get my pension from told me there was this pension sharing order.
As he was being difficult at the time I just didnt do anything about the divorce.
He has told me he only has a pension of £60 per month which he is claiming now.

GunJack

julsxx wrote: »

He has told me he only has a pension of £60 per month which he is claiming now.

but a good job, a merc and 2 bikes....think he may be trying to hide income/pension somehow?? Or, he has much bigger pension not yet in payment... get your solicitor on it

Keep_pedalling

This could drag on, please make sure you have a will in place in case anything happens to you before your divorce is finalised.

quotememiserable

julsxx wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have not had any paperwork from the courts, the company I am trying to get my pension from told me there was this pension sharing order.
.

That can't be right. Pension sharing orders only happen when ordered by a court. So if you're not divorced, there can't be one yet.

Malthusian

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

This could drag on, please make sure you have a will in place in case anything happens to you before your divorce is finalised.

That was a slightly ominous way of putting it.

I feel compelled to clarify that the OP should make a Will because it would be disastrous if you went under a bus and your still-husband inherited all, or the majority of your money in accordance with either intestacy laws or the current Will. Not because we think your husband might get the Hell's Angels to arrange an unfortunate accident.

GunJack wrote:

but a good job, a merc and 2 bikes....think he may be trying to hide income/pension somehow?? Or, he has much bigger pension not yet in payment... get your solicitor on it

Don't see anything suspicious here. A man in his *edit* late 50s or older on a "good wage" sufficient to pay for several holidays abroad should quite easily be able to afford two motorbikes and a Mercedes (we don't know what model / age they are). Why he has annuitised a piddling pension fund is beyond me (making some assumptions on third-hand information there) but it's clearly an insignificant part of his finances.

I am a bit confused by this. My understanding is that Pension Sharing Orders are granted as part of a divorce settlement. But the OP's post suggests that they have not yet come to a settlement. Moreover once a Pension Sharing Order is implemented, the husband will transfer his share to a separate plan and from that point the OP can do whatever she likes with her remaining portion. But if it was at that stage the OP would know exactly how much of the pension she had agreed to split as part of the settlement. And from the limited information we have it sounds unlikely that the OP would have to share her pension fund anyway. This sounds more like some kind of temporary injunction.

I think she needs to check with her solicitor or failing that ask for clarification from the pension company.

julsxx wrote:

I am on minimum wage and struggle on a monthly basis which is why I was trying to get the pension money.

If you spend the pension money when you are still working, what are you going to live on when you are no longer able to work?