Can wife take half pension?

Frugaldom

Caroleann wrote: »

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?

I'm not sure of the differences between Scottish and English law and don't know your location, but if your boyfriend is legally separated from his wife and now living with you, his wife could quite easily divorce him (as opposed to him divorcing her) on the grounds of his adultery. I mean no offence by this, but think it is something you should consider discussing with your boyfriend. You could end up being named in the divorce proceedings and may need to sign the papers as being party to his adultery. Perhaps you could both talk to a lawyer?
I believe that if the ex-wife remarries, then the pension responsibility (other than in her own right) falls to the new husband. (I am a divorcee with absolutely no claim to my ex-husband's pension, so it isn't automatic. I am not a legal professional )

margaretclare

nykmedia wrote: »

I'm not sure of the differences between Scottish and English law and don't know your location, but if your boyfriend is legally separated from his wife and now living with you, his wife could quite easily divorce him (as opposed to him divorcing her) on the grounds of his adultery. I mean no offence by this, but think it is something you should consider discussing with your boyfriend. You could end up being named in the divorce proceedings and may need to sign the papers as being party to his adultery. Perhaps you could both talk to a lawyer?
I believe that if the ex-wife remarries, then the pension responsibility (other than in her own right) falls to the new husband. (I am a divorcee with absolutely no claim to my ex-husband's pension, so it isn't automatic. I am not a legal professional )

Not a professional either, and I only have a little bit of knowledge of English, not Scottish, law. What you say above is correct. This nearly happened to me when my now husband came here to live from his disastrous second marriage, and I was pretending to rent him the spare bedroom as his landlady. I even had to give him a rent book!! The word 'adultery' was bandied about, even though we were 62!

In theory nowadays there is supposed to be 'no blame' i.e. if a marriage has 'irretrievably broken down' then that's meant to be the only criterion. However, DH's soon-to-be-ex had her eyes on everything, and when their matrimonial home went on the table, my mortgaged bungalow and any other assets I had could have been put there as well!

Thank goodness there was a sensible judge who would have none of it.

Margaret

Secret1234

My dad had to give my mum 75% of his pension in their divorce settlement as well as 50% of the house . She was the one who had an affair and me and my sisters stayed with my dad but as we were over 18 it wasn't taken into account.

A happy ending to 23 years of marriage

seven-day-weekend

jenkellyxx wrote: »

My dad had to give my mum 75% of his pension in their divorce settlement as well as 50% of the house . She was the one who had an affair and me and my sisters stayed with my dad but as we were over 18 it wasn't taken into account.

A happy ending to 23 years of marriage

That seems very unfair to me,but that's the way they do things, for some uknown reason it doesn't matter these days which one of them committed adultery.

A friend of mine finally divorced his wife after her third affair and ended up with nothing and still having to pay the mortgage on their marital home.

Not right imho.

In answer to the OP's question, yes I think she could be awarded a share of his pension.

margaretclare

'Still having to pay the mortgage on the former marital home'.....yes, that's exactly what DH's ex wanted. Even though he could never go back there to live, never even go past the door on pain of being accused of 'harassing her'.

She also wanted a review every year - once he reached retirement age in 3 years' time she wanted half his SERPS, updated yearly. She also wanted a lump sum....and he stood on my doorstep with nothing but a few clothes, a rusty old car and an obsolete computer. She wanted the lot!

OP, please make sure he insists on a 'clean break settlement', which is what DH held out for. This means that neither party can come back to the other at any point in the future, lottery wins, inheritances, nothing. You can see why some people wouldn't want this, but if there are no children involved the parties really have to have 'closure' and the ability to get on with own life.

Margaret

CIS

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

I used to provide the information for the Pension Sharing orders but that was 4-5 years now- IIRC the order was requested and the agreed by both parties/judge - usually 50% split on the additional pension but it did vary.

page 85
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/np46/np46apr05.pdf

page49
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/pm/pm2oct07.pdf