Pension Sharing Order and Hargreaves Lansdown

falsewidow

I was unable to get through to HL on the telephone last week and my messages are going unanswered. Three years after divorce we're finalising the Clean Break Order and in that will be the pension sharing order. Both accounts are held with HL with £40k in one and £200k in the other.. it's been agreed to do a 50:50 split. Would we have to sell £80k of shares in the one and transfer as cash or would HL be able to balance the shares equally between the two accounts and will this be a costly exercise as it seems quite straightforward to me.

Thanks in advance.

Marcon

Are the two pensions held in similar investments (i.e. do they have the same range of fund choices)?

falsewidow

Marcon said:

Are the two pensions held in similar investments (i.e. do they have the same range of fund choices)?

All individual shares, mostly UK FTSE 100, 250 and AIM plus a few American, Canadian and German stocks. One has 10 the other has 30.

The one with 10 are all held in the one with 30. Heinz, BAE, VOD, HMZ, SMDS to name a few.

dunstonh

 Would we have to sell £80k of shares in the one and transfer as cash or would HL be able to balance the shares equally between the two accounts and will this be a costly exercise as it seems quite straightforward to me.

Pension sharing orders normally allocate a percentage on the annex order.    Normally, the units are sold to cash and a cash transfer takes place.  I don't know if in-specie would be available due to the name change and the classification of pension credit.  Never had one in that scenario to test it.

Both accounts are held with HL with £40k in one and £200k in the other.. it's been agreed to do a 50:50 split.

Could it not be agreed that no sharing order is applied to the smaller one and 10% less applied to the larger one. That way only one sharing order is required.  It would reduce legal costs as well?

falsewidow

dunstonh said:

 Would we have to sell £80k of shares in the one and transfer as cash or would HL be able to balance the shares equally between the two accounts and will this be a costly exercise as it seems quite straightforward to me.

Pension sharing orders normally allocate a percentage on the annex order.    Normally, the units are sold to cash and a cash transfer takes place.  I don't know if in-specie would be available due to the name change and the classification of pension credit.  Never had one in that scenario to test it.

Both accounts are held with HL with £40k in one and £200k in the other.. it's been agreed to do a 50:50 split.

Could it not be agreed that no sharing order is applied to the smaller one and 10% less applied to the larger one. That way only one sharing order is required.  It would reduce legal costs as well?

I'd have assumed all the shares would be held in one HL main/custodian account and allocated to individuals on a ledger which would be a clerks job once the paperwork has been filed with them. The sharing order is a one way street so that's happening already, we are trying to keep costs to a minimum obviously.

Thank you.

TVAS

This is hassle. Could you not have given the spouse the equivalent from other assets instead of the pension? I assume not.

You have tried the normal route of contacting and got nowhere. To be honest this is too complicate for the staff they employ.

Email the CEO ask if it can be done in specie tell him about your unanswered messages blah blah blah 

chris.hill@hl.co.uk I looked Googled CEO email address Hargreaves Lansdown why didn't you? Take back control and good luck. They will obviously want to see the Pension Sharing Order issued by the Court.

 

steve0510

They have to sell the assets and split to proceeds  - simple as that.