Can wife take half pension?

caroleann

Hi, can anyone out there help please, is it true that a wife can take half of her husbands pension? they are seperated but not divorced, he is scared to divorce her as he says he will lose half his pension to her, he's 46, not entitled to pension for 19 years, he is my boyfriend, is this an excuse not to get divorced do you think?

olly300

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/Pension_Rights/Divorce/

If you are going through a divorce and you and your ex-spouse are looking at dividing up your assets, the Court is required to take your pension rights into account.
Through the Court, a divorcing couple can choose to:

• balance the pension rights against another asset, such as the matrimonial home (this is known as Pension Offsetting); or
• arrange that when one party's pension eventually comes into payment, a portion of it will be paid to the other party (this is known as Pension Earmarking); or
• split the pension at the time of the divorce to give both parties their own pension pot for the future (this is known as Pension Sharing)

getting-sorted-sarah

By the way, this only applies to private pensions - he could not lose any of his State Pension by divorcing.

caroleann

Thanks for that, the matrimonial home has been sold and it was divided 60/40 in the wife's favour, could that be considered as her getting her share of any future pension?

caroleann

getting-sorted-sarah wrote: »

By the way, this only applies to private pensions - he could not lose any of his State Pension by divorcing.

It is a private company pension, could she get her handson this in the future?

olly300

Caroleann wrote: »

It is a private company pension, could she get her handson this in the future?

The link I posted you has the answers to your questions. I suggest you read the article and post any questions once you have read it.

caroleann

Sorry, didn't notice the link, have read it through and understand a lot more now, thanks for your help.:beer:

margaretclare

I don't understand what is happening here. You say the matrimonial home was split 60/40 in her favour. Who decided on this?

Normally, AFAIK, with divorce the money side of things is sorted out in what's called 'ancillary relief'. Before any sorting-out, everything goes on the table - house, pensions, any assets at all. If the house was split why wasn't the pension dealt with at the same time? And you say he's 'scared to divorce her' - well, isn't he divorcing her anyway, isn't that what's happening? I don't understand.

Sounds as if he's not being entirely straight with you.

Margaret

seven-day-weekend

Margaret, the OP said they were separated but not divorced.

Maybe the house was dealt with under a private arrangement.

CIS

By the way, this only applies to private pensions - he could not lose any of his State Pension by divorcing.

additonal state pension can be lost to the other party through a divorce although the basic pension cannot.

EdInvestor

CIS wrote: »

additonal state pension can be lost to the other party through a divorce

Hi CIS, could you explain the rules on this please?