final salary and pension in payment

I've learnt a lot from this site and am now plucking up courage to take action and hope to get some advice and share outcomes so others can can learn from my experience so here goes.
W 56yrs. H 62yrs.Length of marriage 25 yrs.plus 2yrs. cohabitation. Children all independent. FMH worth 250,000 no mortgage.
W. CETV 203,051.38 (NHS final salary)
H. CETV 1,099,000.00 (Final Salary Pension in payment).

W.Monthly salary Gross 3059.52 Net 2146.96
H.Monthly pension Gross 3705 Net 3031

Seperated Feb. 2008. H left to live with OW
44yrs no. further contact with her family. Did not work for 1yr. Now works part-time. ? could work full time.
H. able to retire @ 55yrs (2002)Private Hospital Final Salary Scheme (mental health officer status). Chooses not to work since.

H. arguing that he completed his pension contributions and was fully paid up in 1996. I am therefore only then entitled to a share of contributions from 1982 (cohabiting) to 1996. I have increased my hours to full time in a physically and emotionally demanding job and wish to retire @ 60 (state pension @64). On divorce I give up entitlement to 28,000 PA widows pension.

His pension is currently more than my full time salary but a suggestion has been made at initial consultation that as his is income I may not be able to improve my pension with a pension share.

I had hoped for an 50/50 split with the house (he will need to purchase as currently renting) and some improvement in my pension but no idea whether I have a case. I really want a Clean Break. We both have about 60,000 in savings so I can go down the legal route to final hearing if necessary but is anybody able to give me an idea if I am likely to benefit longer term. Needless to say he doesn't want his pension touched.

rosarie

Welcome to wiki. After a marriage of this length I cannot see any reason why this should not be a 50:50 split of ALL assets. Pension share wd be part of this. He wd have to be able to demonstrate why there should be a departure from equality to have a different outcome ..

Hadenoughnow.

Thankyou so much for replying. The problem seems tp be that his is a pension in payment and a pension share could immediately reduce his income with the possibility of me being a little better off than him until I retire because of my salary. Does anybody know if this happens sometimes?
He is also arguiing that he used part of his lump sum to pay off the mortgage but if we split the house 50/50 surely he is getting his share of this back. I tried to agree a jt. actuary report but no joy to date.

I really don't want to be greedy just fair, but I need to have a home and am terrified of spending thousands in legal fees with no improvement. There is so little info on Wiki or anywhere else about pensions in payment. I've even thought of retiring early myself so we can be treated equally but my job has kept me sane over the last 2 years and I really don't want to do that. Does anybody know anymore?

Rosarie

I cannot comment on the legal aspects and whether you will actually be awarded a particular share of his pension but I can offer some comments on the mechanics that may help.

If a pension sharing order is made against a pension in payment, as you say, his pension will immediately reduce in direct proportion to the percentage order. Your corresponding pension credit will only become available to you when you reach the normal NHS scheme retirement age, although it will benefit from a degree of inflation proofing in the mean time.

Significant retirement age differentials, which are common in the public sector schemes, can be addressed by calculating the pension share so that the value of your pension credit is increased to allow for the fact that his pension is payable for a number of years before yours. You will definitely need a pension report (probably done by an actuary), to do these calculations. Whether potential settlement is acceptable to him, his lawyers and the court is another matter.

Peter.

Thankyou for your advice Peter. I am fortunate to be managing financially at present on my salary but concerned about my income on retirement. Without a pension share, when I retire in 4 years H will potentially have an income that is approx. four times mine. I invested in my home and family for 27 yrs. and may now have a significantly poorer retirement than I had ever anticipated. If the spirit of pension sharing is to provide equal incomes on retirement after a long marriage how can pensions in payment be treated so differently. Is it possible to order a pension share to be implemented in 4yrs when I retire so that H income not affected until then?

I guess you could pay him SM for 4 years to make up for what he'll lose...

Rosarie,

Deferred pension sharing orders are an idea that has often been suggested. One of my legal reference books (published in 2005 by The Law Society) states “… The legislation will be amended to prevent Pension Sharing Orders being deferred. …” I am sure that one of the legal experts who post here will be able to confirm whether that actually happened or not. My guess would be that even if it has not, it could be difficult to get a court to make such an order.

Peter.