new wife

My stbx has said she is going to make the whole process of divorce and finances take as long as she can. I'm resigned to the finances taking the longest.

If the absolute is granted first, I intend to re-marry but I'm wondering what happens then with my pension. I assume nothing changes with regard to the stbx and her share but what happens to the rights of a new wife?

My pension has widows benefits and I would like my current partner to be covered by them as soon as possible - is this possible?

Hi there

To shift your current wife along you can consider just issuing the proceedings so she has to comply with the timescale set by the court.

In respect of the widows benefits, these are lost by your current wife on the absolute and go to your current partner on your marriage to her, unless in your scheme you can assign them to a co-habitee. It is my understanding that to assign to a co-habittee most schemes do expect the divorce to be finalised.

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

On your advice last week, I've instructed my solicitor to just issue the proceedings for the divorce and as soon as I can I'll have him do the same AR, but going on stories form this site I figured even with a court timetable the AR could take years if she won't co-operate.... very depressing.

Thanks for your info about the pension. I wasn't sure if the stbx could get some of them assigned to her in some way; sorry if that sounds daft but pension rules do seem very complicated! If that had of been the case it didn't seem fair that a new wife should suffer because of my past.

Anyhow, thanks again.

In the legal sense, pension rights are non-assignable but there are other options for some of the benefits. There are two distinct elements to the spouse or partner’s benefit in most schemes.

One is the lump sum benefits that are payable on your death, this is effectively a form of life assurance. These are usually structured so that if the benefits become payable they are paid to the pension scheme trustees, who then distribute them in accordance with the scheme rules. The reason for doing this is to avoid tax problems such as inheritance tax. These benefits are usually only available to those who are still in the employment of the sponsoring scheme who have not retired. In most schemes, the member is free to choose who will receive these benefits and this is usually achieved by signing an “expression of wishes” document, which is held by the employer or pension scheme trustees. You can choose to nominate who ever you wish to receive these benefits and you can change you instructions whenever you wish. It would be very difficult for the trustees of a pension scheme to go against your expressed wishes, should the benefits become payable. It is possible for the court to make an attachment order on these benefits in which case that would over-ride any nomination.

The second element is benefits that used to be called widows and orphans benefits. In reality, they are benefits for widow, widowers, partners under civil partnerships and in many cases also co-habitees. It makes them simpler to understand if they are thought of as dependents benefits. There are no set rules as to who is defined as a dependent and therefore there is considerable variation from scheme to scheme. The only way to be certain is to read the scheme rules. In theory, depending on how the scheme defines dependents a pension could be split between an ex-wife and current partner, particularly if they were both financially dependent on you at the time of your death. There is more variability when it comes to “reallocating” a pension on divorce, particularly if a pension sharing order is done. The pension debit member will usually retain an entitlement to dependants pensions on their post-sharing pension. However, some schemes (notably some of the public sector schemes) do not grant dependants benefits to pension credit members.

I am sorry to add to the complications

Peter.

Hi Peter,

Don't apologise - best to know the worst from the beginning!

I've already nominated my partner to receive my lump sum on my death, so hopefully that's one thing less to worry about. I'm in a public sector pension scheme and I've read their blurb but it seems to suggest only my 'wife' would receive a pension on my death. So if I remarried I assume my new wife would get that BUT I wondered if there was some divorce law rule that overrode that to take into account my stbx wife's loss of that benefit on divorce and gave her some of it.

ps. my solicitor thinks this will be a Clean Break case, with no spousal maintenance. We have no children together.

If your pension is subject to a pension sharing order, effectively your stbx wife would not need a widow’s pension as she would have part of yours in her own right. If you remarry, then your “new” wife (I do hate all these clumsy terms) would be eligible for your widows pension, so effectively pension sharing seeks to sort all this out.

Peter