consolidating SIPPs and pension funds after divorce

thegentleway

Hi,


My parents have amicably divorced and my mum has asked me to help her with managing her half of my dad's pensions. There are four pots of money:
1. SIPP with 7IM
2. Final salary pension
3. Aviva pension fund
4. SDD life pension fund
I'm setting up a meeting for us to discuss her situation with a financial advisor. Is there anything to do in preperation?
I'm keen to keep things as simple as possible, can everything be consolidate to one pension fund? I don't like the thought of a SIPP for my mum as I don't mean any disrespect but she doesn't have a clue about money (my dad managed everything; she doesn't know how much my dad earned).

Thanks,


Tom

AnotherJoe

There is a benefit to having a couple of SIPPs which is that should something go awry with one, lets say IT problems or something like that, the other one should still be accessible.
Obviously you cant simply consolidate the final salary pension into the other money based ones, and though it might be possible to do that with some shenanigans theres always something to be said for having a solid "underpin" of an assured pension coming in.

So I'd say at most you should consolidate three into two SIPPs.
Please make sure that the financial adviser you use is an Independent Financial Adviser, and doesn't have either of the following in their name - "wealth" or initials "SPJ" in any order.
As to what to ask, well the main thing is what does your mum want in terms of income. The IFA should be able to give guidance on the best way to achieve that.

xylophone

As above, make sure that your mother consults an Independent FA.

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

Tick "confirmed independent" and "pensions and retirement".

thegentleway

AnotherJoe wrote: »

There is a benefit to having a couple of SIPPs which is that should something go awry with one, lets say IT problems or something like that, the other one should still be accessible.
Obviously you cant simply consolidate the final salary pension into the other money based ones, and though it might be possible to do that with some shenanigans theres always something to be said for having a solid "underpin" of an assured pension coming in.

So I'd say at most you should consolidate three into two SIPPs.
Please make sure that the financial adviser you use is an Independent Financial Adviser, and doesn't have either of the following in their name - "wealth" or initials "SPJ" in any order.
As to what to ask, well the main thing is what does your mum want in terms of income. The IFA should be able to give guidance on the best way to achieve that.

Thanks, I don't think she is getting the final salary one. It's been valued and she's getting a lump sum to put into a SIPP.

thegentleway

xylophone wrote: »

As above, make sure that your mother consults an Independent FA.

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

Tick "confirmed independent" and "pensions and retirement".

Brilliant, that's useful. The advisor my dad used and we were thinking of speaking to isn't confirmed as independent! Have used the website to find a confirmed independent.