What If I Re-marry

AuntyJean

I am currently paying the Married Women's contributions and am about to get divorced. I will then have to pay full NIC's until retirement (next 15 yrs). This will more than double what I am paying now.

I obtained a State Pension forecast which indicated that if I pay full NIC's until I retire I will be entitled to a state pension of 39% of the full amount but, I will be entitled to the full basic State Pension (if I work until retirement) based on my husbands NIC's.

However, it warns that I will lose this right if I re-marry. Does anyone know what my entitlement would be (assuming my new husband pays full contributions until normal retirement age). Will I be able to take his contributions into account or do I revert to the 39%? What if my ex-husband re-marries?

margaretclare

Hi AuntyJean

AFAIK if you remarry you'll lose entitlement to your ex-husband's pension for a wife, but you'll gain entitlement to that of your new husband!

If your ex-husband remarries, and you don't, you can still continue to collect pension via his contributions. I know this, because my present husband's ex is collecting pension via his contributions. I could do the same, but I'm better off on my own contributions because I not only have a full contribution record in my own right but I also have some SERPS.

I personally think that it's very unfair that ex-wifey is still able to collect pension on her ex's contributions, my present husband, given that it was a 'clean break' settlement. However it doesn't really affect either of us so I don't give it much thought.

Aunty Margaret

mrbnewc

AuntJean

U are correct in saying that u'd lose entitlement to ur ex husband's contributions if u remarry before u claim ur State Pension. U would however be able to partly claim from ur new husband's contributions and the most u could receive in total would be 60% basic pension (this is also taking into account the 39% in ur own right). This would be known as a 'married woman's pension', which is currently 49.15 per week (a rate which increases each year). U would only be able to get this once ur new husband is receiving his State Pension. If u are younger than him, then u would receive the 39% until he is 65 then make a new claim which would bring u up to the 60%.

If u decide not to remarry before u are receiving ur State Pension then u would be able to claim from ur ex husband's contributions, even if he remarries at any stage.

Hope this makes sense.

MrB

CIS

It may not be worth your while stopping paying reduced rate, if you continue as you are and re-marry , you can then claim an increase in your new husbands record.

If you have 15 years to go, the amount of NI you pay from full contributions will only give you 39%, where as you can get 60% if your new husband has a full pension.

If he retires before you, you can claim an increase as soon as you reach pension age (65 , I guess, from you saying you have 15yrs to go), and get the 65%, whereas if you stop paying MWE and pay full then you'll have paid all that extra NI and still come away having to claim the increase on his record, although paying full rate may get you extra additional pension, the extra NI you pay will probably remove any advantage this gives you.

If you dont remarry and claim as a divorcee , if he has a good record, it could boost your basic pension to 100%.

Did you ask for a forecast for what happens if you dont re-marry and claim as a divorcee ?

When I worked for pension forecasting it was standard to issue 2 forecasts, 1 predicting on your own record and 1 as a claim against your ex-husbands record, if you told them you where soon to be divorced when you applied for the forecast.

margaretclare

But if she goes on paying MWE she won't have S2P, will she? Nor will she have any of the other benefits, JSA, sickness benefits (whatever they're called now).

Aunty Margaret

CIS

she wont get S2P paying MWE , but what I was sugeesting was that, if she starts paying full NI and in the end she's still claiming the 60% off her husband's conts.

ie earnings approx £10000 MWE NI paid per year, roughly £250 p/a, £3700 over 15 yrs
approx £10000 full NI paid per year , roughly £630 p/a, £9400 over 15 yrs

over 15 yrs , thats £5700 extra NI paid, if she receives an increase from her husband's NI to 60%, shes goning to get her pension upped whether she pays ful rate or reduced rate.

Their are the other possibilities of JSA etc, but Aunty Jean asked only about her pension, if she expects not to claim these benefits then she could save herself nearly £6000 at todays rates, if she remarries and uses her new husbands NI record.

AuntyJean

When I am divorced I lose my right to pay Married Womens Contributions and cannot change back even if I remarry.

margaretclare

AuntyJean wrote:

When I am divorced I lose my right to pay Married Womens Contributions and cannot change back even if I remarry.

Ah. That's worth knowing.

So, will this affect your decision-making?

If you're divorced you can claim retirement pension on ex-husband's contributions, if you remarry you can claim it on new husband's conts.

BTW, when I remember the time just after my present husband moved in with me, originally ex-wifey did not want a divorce - she was trying to get a judicial separation. This is apparently rare nowadays because it leaves both parties in limbo, but we were told that it's still used in cases of older women because it's more beneficial to them. At that time she was about 58, he was 62. Thank goodness she changed her mind and we did manage to get him divorced from her, the grasping cow - she would have taken everything from him except his underpants, and he'd already walked out of the house leaving her all the furniture, equity, everything. She wanted his annuity, his rusty old car and his obsolete computer - oh the letters and wrangles there were over those items!

Sorry, Aunty Jean.

Aunty Margaret

AuntyJean

CIS wrote:

Did you ask for a forecast for what happens if you dont re-marry and claim as a divorcee ?

I only asked what if I get divorced.

My concern is if I re-marry, am I only entitled to claim on my new husbands NICs from the date of our marriage or for the whole of his working life?

CIS

If you remarry they look at your new husbands entire basic state pension, not just that which is earned after the marriage.

just to clarify, the last paragraph of my last post above should have read, 'if you dont divorce and you use your husbands record, it will be better off for you not to stop MWE unless you want to claim other state benefits,as it would cost you about £6000 extra in NI for no added benefit'.

gatita

Hope you don't mind my intruding on this thread, but I would like to clarify my position if I was to marry.
Situation at present, I am retired (64yrs female) my pension is £25 p.w. and made up to the M.I.G. approx £109 p.w.

Please could anyone explain what would happen in our case. I have not been married before.