Pensions confuse me

Hi all,

This is mainly pension but a little bit of 'other'.

Me and my wife are SO close to agreeing the divorce but there's some financial niggles.

In a nutshell, we've sold and split the house. Don't have kids. Or pets. Have been together 25 years and married for 12. All that's left is:

Me: £150k pension, £20k compensation from losing my job recently (still unemployed).

Her: £20k pension and she has a job (albeit relatively low paid).

I've been advised it's not as straightforward as adding both pension values together and splitting in half. What does everyone think?

Also, she wants some of my compensation (mentioned 50%!), but that is for me to live off. A lot of it is already gone due to debts, accommodation, running a car etc. (usual stuff). But i feel she shouldn't have access to any!

Any help much appreciated.

You can agree to just add the pensions together and divide by two but that won't necessarily mean you get equal incomes from the pension.

There are different kinds of pension and some are more valuable than others. They may pay more in income per £ of Cash Equivalent Value and have other valuable benefits attached such as index linking.

A lot also depends on whether the pension . Some can be shared within a scheme - or you each get a separate, smaller pension with the same benefits OR if a new private pension has to be bought with cash taken out of the pension fund. Your ages will also be a factor.

The new pension rules allow some pensions to be converted to cash at 55.

How old are you both?

Hadenoughnow

We are both 49.