My husband refuses a pension sharing agreement

Hi all
My husband is refusing to share the pensions, what should I do? My proposal was to put both our pensions into the pot (his is worth much more than mine) and split them equally between us. He wants to keep his.
As part of the draft order, he is proposing to keep all of the savings and the aged-debt he has acrrued in his job, the total of these is about £400k. He continues to pay the full mortage while I stay in the house with our children for the next 11 years (Mesher order) and then the house will be sold and split 65:35 in my favour. He pays me minimal SM and CM. I work part-time. He works full time and earns a large salary though he has not disclosed this.

My assumption is that the court would order a pension split. We are trying to avoid court, but should I be saying to him "look just share the pensions or I will take you to court?" This has been going on for almost 3 years (he left me for someone else and so I filed for divorce) and I just want an end to it to I can move on with my life.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

You need to post a lot more details about ages, incomes and assets for someone to comment but you need to look at the total pot not just the pensions in isolation.

Both pensions, along with all other assets, go into the pot how you split it is what you then negotiate.

How much CM is he paying, is it in line with CMS amounts?

You say he already pays you SM and pays the mortgage as well?

Usually with a Mesher order the person living in the house pays the mortgage.

What are your plans to work full time?

What is the aged-debt he has accrued?

Thanks WYspecial.

He is 47 and I am 45. Kids are 10 and 7.
His income is £8k per month, mine is £1k pm. I am trying to increase my hours/income with extra private work. I receive £450 benefits per month (Child Tax credits and Child Benefit).

House is valued at £900k and there is still £300k left to pay on the mortgage, 14 years left to run. He makes monthly mortgage payments of £1100.

His aged-debt is £250k (this is income he is yet to receive for work he has done over the years). Savings (in off-set repayment mortage account) are £150k, which he uses to pay his income tax. He proposes to keep 100% of these. Plus his £25k ISA.

I will keep my ISA of £10k (I had to cash some of mine in to pay legal fees).

His private pension has a fund value of £130k. My NHS pension value is £20k.


He pays me £900 CM (£450 per child) and £300 SM. Plan is for this to continue until youngest reaches 18, so in around 11 years time. At which point we sell the house and split is 65:35 in my favour.

Hope this provides enough information and if someone can tell me if I should be entitled to half his pension.

Thanks again in advance for any advice offered.

How big is house?

Given size of the pot there should be enough to buy a suitable house outright?

If your ex really wants to keep his pension why don't you let him and have more of the other assets instead? You can't live in a pension and wouldn't be able to access it for 10 years.

Pensions account for £150k, both will be in the pot, but there is over £1m in non pension assets. There is more than enough to share without the expense of splitting a pension.

Don't focus on one asset and lose sight of the bigger picture.