no further claim

Hi

I am divorced and receive reasonable maintenance payments for both my children and myself ( We had a good standard of living prior to our divorce). These will keep going until the children leave education or age 21 which ever is sooner. My spousal maintenance will then halve. I work for a charity 3.5 days a week. The question I have is that since my divorce (3 years ago), my children have stayed with their father on less than 10 occasions. My ex husband has pursued his business with great vigour and has not thought it necessary to discuss any parenting arrangements with me. He is not involved in their lives in any meaningful way. Whilst my younger son maintains a relationship with him, my older son remains very hurt and angry. My ex husband has a younger girlfriend who he now lives with. I turned down promotion and have been unable to take on any great career moves, as I cannot rely on my ex for any shared parenting. Whilst my sons are now teens, I am a woman approaching 50 and feel that my options have narrowed dramatically. At the time of the divorce I took a greater share in the equity to secure a house for myself and my sons, I took no share of his pension. However, I can envisage a situation in a few years time, when my spousal maintenance will halve, I will have no child maintenance and no way of being able to provide any meaningful pension for myself. My income will not provide enough for me to live on and save for a reasonable pension. Meanwhile, my ex husband is now a multi millionaire, which he has worked hard for indeed. I don''t know how to say this because compared to many I am lucky...but no amount of money will pay for being left to do the parenting on my own, for being dragged into college yet again to deal with my sons non attendance. Witnessing his deminished/eroded confidence and threats to kill himself....All issues I have dealt with on my own and that we have now all come through, my son is happier than he was! I feel robbed of my own hopes and ambitions, as I truly belived when we married it was a joint venture and that my need to parent and work was as valid as his. Instead I feel that he pursued his career to the detriment of our family. I do not need great wealth and never have ...but would like a pension. However, our divorce settlement states that I may make no further claim. Does that mean I literally cannot ask for more. I would just like to be able to have enough to put into a pension?

The aim of Consent Orders and judgements is to end future capital and pension claims, you have no claim.