What am I entitled to on Divorce

jayneprit

I am a 69 year old woman planning to file for divorce. I only receive state pension, but do get a full one, due to NI contributions. It will be a big drop in income for me as my husband has 2 work pensions. Will I be entitled to any form of credit to help me pay bills please? 

MattMattMattUK

jayneprit said:

I am a 69 year old woman planning to file for divorce. I only receive state pension, but do get a full one, due to NI contributions. It will be a big drop in income for me as my husband has 2 work pensions. 

As part of the divorce the starting point is a 50/50 split, that involves assets such as property as well as private pensions, which will usually be divided equally. 

jayneprit said:

Will I be entitled to any form of credit to help me pay bills please? 

Your issue may be the period when you move out through to the financial order is made. You would probably be able to claim Pension Credit and potentially the housing element of Universal Credit, as well as other things. If you stay living in the same house together until the divorce goes through then you will not be able to claim benefits. 

Do you have a plan, have you collected details of your husband's financial position, spoken to a lawyer?

p00hsticks

At 69 you are too old for Universal Credit, and with a full State Pension won't qualify for Pension Credit.
You may be able to get some help with council tax and housing benefit by being on a low  income - the Benefits part of the forum would be more knowledgeable about this. 

As part of the divorce you need to agree a financial settlement with your husband on how to divide the marital assets, which could require hum to share some of his pension with you. . 

Marcon

jayneprit said:

I am a 69 year old woman planning to file for divorce. I only receive state pension, but do get a full one, due to NI contributions. It will be a big drop in income for me as my husband has 2 work pensions. Will I be entitled to any form of credit to help me pay bills please? 

Forgive me for asking what could be a truly daft question, but are you quite certain you don't have any private pension provision of your own? Have you ever been in paid employment and simply 'lost track' of the possibility that you build up some sort of pension while you were an employee?

Marcon

p00hsticks said:

As part of the divorce you need to agree a financial settlement with your husband on how to divide the marital assets, which could require hum to share some of his pension with you. . 

...or provide other assets (eg from non-pension savings if he has any) to ensure you have money to live on. It's not for the state to provide when a former spouse could and should be the one doing so. Proper professional advice is essential - you can't afford not to take it.

Silvertabby

And if your (ex) husband tries to tell you that his works pensions can't be split, because they are already in payment, he's wrong.

DRS1

I know this is the pensions board but do think about more than pensions.  Some people try to avoid splitting the pension by making up for it with other money/assets (eg you get all the house and none of the pension).