Am I entitled?

Hi,

I'm thinking that my husband and i will share the equity from the house sale BUT I'm not sure if I'm entitled to any of his pension. We have lived together for 7 years and been married for 4. He earns much more than I do and has quite a large pension which he has paid into all the time we've been together. I started my pension about 5 yearsa ago but have only paid in about 3 years as I've stopped/started work due to ill health.

Anyone any idea?

I am going to see a Solicitor but really don't have the money for a long drawn out court battle.

Hi 40 Not Out,

The short answer is : yes, you are entitled to a share of his pension. As to how much and in which form - even the experts who come and answer solely pension questions cannot give you more than a rough idea when figures have been submitted to them as it all depends on the years contributed, the method of calculation, the average life span, the length of the rope (!) etc.

One very helpful person who answers pension queries is Peter@BDM.
You can pm him.

Hope this helps
Red XX

Thanks - sorry but what does "you can pm him" mean?

Hi, pm means you can send him a private message.

Go to top of home page, click on 'community' then click on last item which is called 'directory of members', put 'peter@BDM into the rectangular blue box. The profile will come up and it'll say 'send me a message'
The whole palaver can be shortened if Peter@BDM is online, because you then can contact him directly.
Red XX

Thanks!

Hi 40 Not Out

I’ve just seen this post so I’ll leap in now and offer what help I can.

There are other forum members who are but better on this specific area of pensions in divorce but as a VERY poor substitute I’ll start things rolling.

The main issue is the length of the relationship and what implications this has on your entitlement to a share of his pension. However, the first step is getting pension valuations (or at least an idea of what they are worth). This is not as difficult as it sounds as both your pension provider and his will provide a valuation free of charge. You need to ask for a transfer value or Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV). Armed with the values, add them together to get the total value of both your pensions (include the State Second Pension, as that can be quite valuable). The simple principle is that the pension values are then shared equally between you.

As you were married for a relatively short time, some would argue that instead of a 50:50 split the shares should be adjusted to take this into account. The simplest and least expensive way of doing this is to adopt the method used in Scottish Courts (where only the pension built up during the relationship is shared). The formula is:

(A x B ) divided by C

Where

A is the benefit accrued (built up) up to the relevant date
B is the period of marriage whilst a member of the scheme which falls before the “relevant date”; and
C is the period of membership of the scheme before the “relevant date”.

The “relevant date” is defined as being the earlier of:

a) the date on which the parties finally ceased to cohabit, or
b) the date of service of the summons in the action for divorce.

To get some idea of what his pension may be worth before you get the valuation from the scheme, you could use the free calculator on our website: bradshawdixonmoore.com/calculator.html.

I hope this helps a little, do post again if you have more questions, as you almost certainly will.

Peter.

P.S. Thanks RedXX for the hint.

Hi
I am new to this stuff ( an not too good with computer stuff either! )
my husband had a pension which was frozen before we married 6 years ago and has built up another since then . I had more property equity when we married and so the value of our assets then was similar . Will I be entitled to a share of that pension or at least the interest on it since we married. We have no children and at 50 I only have a smallish pension myself and had thought we had our future nicely sorted!!