CETV for Divorce purposes

angelinamay

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

Brie

Do you have any old paperwork that shows what the CETV was before you retired?  if so perhaps they would accept that.  If they are agreeable to accepting that and you don't have a copy maybe you could put in a subject access request and get it that way for free.

angelinamay

Well I started drawing my pension at age 50, in 2004, and really don't recall any paperwork you mention, so a long time ago.  I was just really, REALLY floored with the price quoted Brie

Marcon

Brie said:

Do you have any old paperwork that shows what the CETV was before you retired?  if so perhaps they would accept that.  If they are agreeable to accepting that and you don't have a copy maybe you could put in a subject access request and get it that way for free.

CETVs fluctuate the whole time - there's a reason they are only guaranteed for 3 months. Not a hope that'll be acceptable.

You don't get a CETV via SAR. The only way to get a CETV for divorce purposes is to make a specific request for one, indicating that is the purpose for which it is required.

angelinamay said:

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

You're looking at one of the most complicated calculations imaginable, usually with significant manual intervention (ie it isn't 'push a button'), which is why the costs are so high.

molerat

I can't see any relevance for the CETV, it is now meaningless and you are receiving an income which is the only thing now relevant in a settlement.  Ask the mediator what the relevance of that information is.

dunstonh

angelinamay said:

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

Technically, you are not getting a CETV in the conventional sense.   You are requesting a highly complex calculation to be carried out, where specialists will be required to do the work for that.     (I am assuming this is a DB pension based on the wording you have used).

Effectively you are paying for the work you are creating.

However, you may wish to query why the mediator is asking for it at this stage.   Maybe they believe that the pension is not yet in payment?  (CETVs for pensions not yet in payment are usually free for the first one in the year).   

With a scheme pension already in place, there is no monetary value of this scheme (i.e. no pot like a DC pension).  The value is the income being paid.     Your options are typically:
1) an agreement on sharing assets amicably.   You don't have to share the pension explicitly. 
2) pension offsetting  
3) pension sharing order 
4) deferred pension sharing (which seems to be the route your mediator is suggesting and is the most complex of the options)

Have the other options been considered? - if not, then looking at those could reduce your costs.  

Marcon

molerat said:

I can't see any relevance for the CETV, it is now meaningless and you are receiving an income which is the only thing now relevant in a settlement.  Ask the mediator what the relevance of that information is.

You still need a CETV if a Pension Sharing Order is under consideration.

Marcon

angelinamay said:

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

OP - assuming you aren't posting under two names, you are not alone! Posted by linclass earlier today https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6198259/cetv-for-divorce/p1

'Just add my two pennoth, I've just called my last employer, Civil Aviation Authority, and for divorce purposes, they charge £1,000 to provide a CETV if already retired. As if some pensioners aren't bashed already !!!'

angelinamay

molerat said:

I can't see any relevance for the CETV, it is now meaningless and you are receiving an income which is the only thing now relevant in a settlement.  Ask the mediator what the relevance of that information is.

Apparently, the Court will need it for Divorce proceedings.

angelinamay

Marcon said:

Brie said:

Do you have any old paperwork that shows what the CETV was before you retired?  if so perhaps they would accept that.  If they are agreeable to accepting that and you don't have a copy maybe you could put in a subject access request and get it that way for free.

CETVs fluctuate the whole time - there's a reason they are only guaranteed for 3 months. Not a hope that'll be acceptable.

You don't get a CETV via SAR. The only way to get a CETV for divorce purposes is to make a specific request for one, indicating that is the purpose for which it is required.

angelinamay said:

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

You're looking at one of the most complicated calculations imaginable, usually with significant manual intervention (ie it isn't 'push a button'), which is why the costs are so high.

Yes, I understand that, but surely - the Actuaries that CAA farm this service out to, have devised their own set of software that could calculate quicker than all human intervension?

angelinamay

dunstonh said:

angelinamay said:

Hey all

I'm in receipt of my workplace pension and have been for some years. It's not a masstive pension.  I'm going through mediation with husband, and the mediator suggested we need to obtain the CETV from last employer.  Well, I phoned them today and COULD NOT BELIEVE how much they will charge me for this service?  £200, ok, painful but affordable. But £1,000????  Apparently they charge this much because I've already retired and in receipt of it.  Anyone else been poleaxed in this way??

Technically, you are not getting a CETV in the conventional sense.   You are requesting a highly complex calculation to be carried out, where specialists will be required to do the work for that.     (I am assuming this is a DB pension based on the wording you have used).

Effectively you are paying for the work you are creating.

However, you may wish to query why the mediator is asking for it at this stage.   Maybe they believe that the pension is not yet in payment?  (CETVs for pensions not yet in payment are usually free for the first one in the year).   

With a scheme pension already in place, there is no monetary value of this scheme (i.e. no pot like a DC pension).  The value is the income being paid.     Your options are typically:
1) an agreement on sharing assets amicably.   You don't have to share the pension explicitly. 
2) pension offsetting  
3) pension sharing order 
4) deferred pension sharing (which seems to be the route your mediator is suggesting and is the most complex of the options)

Have the other options been considered? - if not, then looking at those could reduce your costs.  

Well I'm not interested in pension sharing, my pension isn't that much, and the husbands is a final wage pension.  All I want is half the value of the house so that I can move into a property I can manage.