Am I entitled?

Hi s-h-p

Are you divorcing through a Scottish court?

Peter.

Hi

Am not even up to that yet, am still in bit of a panic trying to work out what is going to happen . If we get that far it will not be scottish court . It is my feeling that I should be entitled to have it at least taken into account as I had around 80k equity in my house and he had around 30k equity . His pension was worth 90k 6 years ago but he has not contributed since then as he is now with another company in which he has a pension of 50k value built up over last 6 years . Am really just trying to get an idea of what counts as an asset so that I will know what is fair as I dont think I will be able to afford much legal help and he has already said that if we cant agree between us then it will cost thousands each . I know this is true , but he is in a strong position to get legal help while he knows I am not , and he is a professional negotiator! I feel that unless I understand my rights he will scare me into accepting minimal amount.

S-h-p

Thanks for the additional information. The starting point is that the total value of the pensions (your and his) should be shared between you. I will not venture into the property side of things as it is outside my area of knowledge and expertise. He (and his lawyers) might argue that he brought a considerable pension into the relationship, but presumably, the same argument will apply to your property contribution.

Hi Peter

Thanks for this information , it is really useful to be able to get info this way , sometimes its hard to know whether something is fair or not , especially with so many emotions flying around . I am still not sure about the gain on this pension since we married , does a paid up pension continue to gain in value ? I realise that property is not your area but I am feeling that if we are counting the gain on my extra equity then it would be unfair not to count any gain on an equal amount of that pension. I hope this makes some sense!!

Hi s-h-p

Yes, a paid-up-pension does have the potential to increase in value. A salary related pension will increase at a modest rate (something lower than inflation). A money purchase pension will reflect the performance of the underlying investments and with any luck increase in value over the medium to long term.

Peter.