Pension and divorce

justme111

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

If they agree between them there will be no need for Courts or judges. They have both recognised that and my sister acknowledges so far her ex has been fair and she would get less than as it stands now. She was surprised at my brother in laws initial proposal to take such a small percentage but as I say I think ready cash is what he needs now to get back on the housing ladder. She will not instigate proceedings but I don't think she will delay deliberately. I have looked at the financial consent form and it is 28 pages so this is not a quick process. They seem to be on the same page so far but there are many ways of splitting the assets.!!!1102;

Putting myself in her position I think I would ask for say a 35% split in his pension to recognise the differential between the pensions.

Offer some of her inheritance which he agrees is hers to help him buy a property and give him say a 20% split of the equity in the property once it is sold after say both kids reach 30 as it is London. That would give him a total of 30% which acknowledges the money she put in. Again he has said he is happy with a reduced share. This way allows him to move on now but gives him a share and keeps his kids in the family home. My sister can then downsize.

He keeps his savings and she keeps hers.

That is just my surmising though and there will be some who won't agree and a court probably wouldn't.

Your divorce sounds very acrimonious and I am surprised you weren't able to retain a share in the house until the kids were grown. Unless of course you wanted a clean break and that maybe will what my sister wants in which case yes she may have to forego the pension.[/QUOTE[
you forget that for 1O years until the house is sold she would be living in rhe house part of which is his. would she pay him rent on thay part of the house? no clean break , it could be messy.

enthusiasticsaver

justme111 wrote: »

you forget that for 1O years until the house is sold she would be living in rhe house part of which is his. would she pay him rent on thay part of the house? no clean break , it could be messy.

Yes, I am reaching that conclusion. It looks like pension sharing order etc is also expensive when you take transfer out costs etc into account and presumably land registry costs if a share is retained on the property. Ultimately it is her decision but I am just thinking that she is 55 this year so does not have that many years to make up the difference on her pension. The simplest thing does seem to be to use the property as the equalising vehicle but it would be better if sold. Not sure if she is ready to do that yet.

enthusiasticsaver

justme111 wrote: »

[/QUOTE[
you forget that for 1O years until the house is sold she would be living in rhe house part of which is his. would she pay him rent on thay part of the house? no clean break , it could be messy.

There is no way he would charge her rent on part of the house as he would not be so petty. Equally she would not charge him maintenance on his part. If they remain civilised it could work but ideally it would be better sold. I am not sure she wants to do that which I understand totally. A clean break is one apparently where one party cannot go back to another if circumstances change. If they agreed a percentage and an end date on the consent order would that still not be clean break?

It would be a maximum of 8 years as niece is 21 this year. By the time this is sorted it will be another year I dare say.

stoozie1

Does your sister currently have protection to remain in the 1995 scheme?

Can she use the bond money to buy additional pension? (If she isn't currently maximising her pension tax relief allowances)

I know this isn't exactly what you are asking about but from your previous posts I know you are financially savvy, so she may value your suggestions in a wider sense at the moment, especially as he used to do all the finances.

hyubh

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

It looks like pension sharing order etc is also expensive when you take transfer out costs etc

There won't be any 'transfer out costs' since no one will be transferring out, given we're talking about the Civil Service Pension Scheme. There would however be service charges for implementing any pension sharing order.

atush

Pollycat wrote: »

I wasn't talking about you attaching blame.
I was talking about the courts or mediator will see it.

You - and the OP - can attach all the blame you like.
The fact that he was the one who walked away is irrelevant from a legal perspective.

I don't think a judge - which the OP and her sister are keen not to involve anyway - will be more sympathetic.

the judge wont attach blame for leaving.

Judges DO attach blame if one party is hiding money, or tries in other ways to cheat the other party. I knew one case where the leaver bought his parents a boat, and paid his new girlfriends taxes with the joint savings account. And her moving costs to join him.

They've seen it all and are not amused when they do.

atush

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Yes, my mum and I have been pushing this. Her argument so far is that she thinks he is being fair and does not want to anger him into being difficult. I think she doesn't know whether he is being fair until she gets advice. She says he is being generous with spousal and child maintenance at the moment until it is all finalised.

Someone has said that on the financial consent they have to say who they have consulted for advice so if they start the process soon she can quite legitimately say it is a requirement.

I think that sounds like he was controlling to begin with. He did as you say deal with all the financials. And she is afraid of him being angry?

She will at some point need him to get a CETV as she will with her pension. Even if just for mediation. At least a one off consultation with someone might tell her what is allowed, what is fair, and she can still go amicable with mediation.

As you say, she needs to knwo the fact to knwo if he is being fair or not. But it sounds scarey to me that he doenst want her to have advice, and she is afriad he will become angry.

Are the adult children paying rent+ while living in the family home?

enthusiasticsaver

stoozie1 wrote: »

Does your sister currently have protection to remain in the 1995 scheme?

Can she use the bond money to buy additional pension? (If she isn't currently maximising her pension tax relief allowances)

I know this isn't exactly what you are asking about but from your previous posts I know you are financially savvy, so she may value your suggestions in a wider sense at the moment, especially as he used to do all the finances.

The bond is tied up until September or October so she can't do anything with it until then. She may then need it to buy out her ex so he can buy somewhere. I have told her it would be wise to overpay her pension but whether she will do it before this is sorted I don't know.

crv1963

stoozie1 wrote: »

Was your ex-partner's pension also subject to a pension sharing order, or was it allowed to remain, but it's value subtracted from the 50% of yours?

Hers remained where it was and what was awarded from mine was added to hers, so each had an equal sized "pot" both NHS pensions.

Pollycat

atush wrote: »

the judge wont attach blame for leaving.

Judges DO attach blame if one party is hiding money, or tries in other ways to cheat the other party. I knew one case where the leaver bought his parents a boat, and paid his new girlfriends taxes with the joint savings account. And her moving costs to join him.

They've seen it all and are not amused when they do.

And that in bold was the point I was making.
The OP said 'he was the one who walked away'.
And I said that was irrelevant.
And it is.
Hiding money is a different thing altogether.