Pension and divorce

Mnd

Just advise her that she will lose out if she accepts his offer

Hand it over to the solicitor and let them see it through

bostonerimus

Given the husband's attitude it looks like this will have to go to court for a fair ruling. IMHO assets like pensions should be divided in half and there needs to be an alimony settlement.

It's difficult to do this without professional help as emotions between the divorcees are obviously raw. I managed to do my divorce without a solicitior. My wife had one and she was adamant that she didn't want any of our pension savings, this resulted in the bizarre scene of me and her lawyer both trying to persuade her to demand half of the pension. She wouldn't budge and said she didn't want the bother. So I decided to keep her as a 50% beneficiary and to never touch it and either her or her heirs will eventually get the money.

crv1963

Your friend really needs to do as Mnd says and hand it over to the solicitor. The aim of the court; provided there are no dependent children and it is unlikely given their ages that there is; is for an equal split of the marital assets, each half the equity in the house, both pensions added together then 50% each of the total, then half each of the savings/ investments/ any other marital assets. From this starting point the real negotiating begins, I'll give up x% of your pension in return for y% of the house equity.


This is the point of the solicitors, they know what the court will see as fair and even handed, it also depends upon earning capacities, in my own case I was ordered to surrender all of the home equity and 40% of my pension pot because I was deemed to have greater earning capacity, there were children involved, but no spousal maintenance for life which was my ex-wife request of the court.


It is very difficult when the emotions are raw, but tell your friend time really does make things easier! It seems her soon to be ex does know how valuable his pension is, or he is emotionally attached to it as in "I've worked all my life for my pension and I don't want to share it". When in the hard light of day it is simply a sum of money that will get divided in two.

Thrugelmir

lisyloo wrote: »

£20K in solicitors fees is worth it if there is a £500K (or more) pension fund there.

Costs can be awarded. Particularly if the judge is irate. Friends of mine recently divorced. Without going into the details. The judge's opening statement was along the lines of "I don't know why we are here". Set the tone for the proceedings that followed. Not only did he pick up less than he was originally offered. Had to foot all the legal costs of the action which amounted to a tidy sum.

Mrs_pbradley936

OK and old thread but an update. They did not go to Court in the end.

She is getting half of all assets and 55% of his pension because she is younger and the annuity will not give her as much as in monthly income if they don't do that. She has consulted an actuary and that was what was agreed. However, he has been paying all of the household bills even though he no longer lives in the house but that will stop forthwith.