Military Pension v Length of Marriage

Hi,

I was wondering if the courts take into account the length of the marriage prior to division of the marital assets. In our case the marriage was 8 years yet my partner has a 22 year pension. Would the court automatically give 50% to each spouse or do they tend to adjust that depending on the amount accumilated prior to marriage. (For info cohabitation did not occur prior to the marriage)

Also how much weight do the courts give to a spouses future earnings potential? Particularly if they are qualified in a profession but are choosing not to work.

And lastly where pensions are offset against the value of the current assets (house equity etc) is at like for like value given the pension fund isn't actually a pot of money available and could fluctuate and therefore is worth less in lump sum real terms?

Thank you

Hello

Depending on other factors you may be entitled to a share of the pension for the years you were married but probably not the whole 22 years. How much is shared depends on kids income future income and what other assets you have.

Future income potential is a factor but only one of many, both will be expected to work to full potential unless there is a reason why one or both can`t.

A house car isa ect are liquid assets because they can be sold and utalised, a pension is not a liquid asset as it can`t be sold and only pays on retirement, because of this a pension is rarely accepted £1 for £1 against a liquid asset.

How much the pension is worth depends on CETV respective age and the type of pension, final salary pensions often require an in depth valuation by an actuary.

Think of it this way say your aged 40 with CETV £100,000 and equity on a house £100,000 the cash equity is of much more value to you right now, if your aged 60 the pension is much more valuable as it will or soon will be in payment.

As Dukey says, the length of the marraige is relevent (it feeds back to the isseue of what is fair to both parties)

However, nothing is 'ring-fenced', so a court has the discretion to take into account a greater proportion of the pension if it believes it is fair to do so.

The split may be on a straight % of the CETV but in some cases (Police pensions, for example) CETV values often don't give an accurate picture of the true value of the pension and in order to acheive equality in terms of value, a proper report from a pensions actuary may be needed to work out the appropriate split.

If the receipient wants cash in lieu of pension then normally the starting point would be 25% - i.e. if they would be entitled to £20,000 in pension share, they would get £5,000 in cash. However, if close to retuirement, a higher lump sum may be fair. Equally, where the offsetting is becasue the person with the pensioon wants to retian it, and the other party would prefer a pension share to cash, they may negoitiate fora higher lump sum (esp. if they are planning to use it to fund a pension!)

Future earning capacity is relevent - it would depend why the person is not currently working in their profession and how easy, realistically, it would be for them to return to it. (beraring in mind that if they have not been working for a while, they are likelyto find it harder to get back into work, even if they have appropriate qualifications)