What will be the pension sharing percentage?

Hi, I wonder if I can ask a question on possible outcome of pension sharing. I have posted my situation on Divorce Calculator. However, I wonder if I can get some opinion on posible pension share outcomes.

My situation is that my husband has a pension of 520K and he is 54. I have a pension of 55K and I am 37. We are both on final pension scheme. We are married for 8 years and have 1 child of 2.5 years old. The total other asset is about 250K. His salary is about 5000 and mine is 3000 after tax.

I am thinking to start with the negociation of 60-70% other assets (more assets so that he does not pay me maintanence) and share 50% of pension, and ask for child maintenance of £800/month+ nursery fees. Is this a realistic goal?

Will the court allow me to share 50% of his pension? The reason I ask this is because he will argue that he is nearly retire, but I have many more years to go, and some pension was there before we are married. Then in reality his salary has really increasd a lot since we are married, and the final value scheme is directly linked to salary.

I have a solicitor but I would appreciate another opinion. Thanks very much.

Hi,

It is very difficult to give you any guarantees on what you might receive as a settlement on the pensions. I am sorry there are no assurances.

This is because there are too many variables at play when considering pensions against other assets / your circumstances.

However, there are things we do know and if you decide what you want to achieve out of the settlement then your advisers can assist you on making informed choices. There will be certain things you are prepared to concede on and others that you are not. Set a game plan.

Taking the pensions in isolation, I always consider why the pension should not be a 50:50 split. In most circumstances they are in the pot just like any other asset.

Yours is a medium term marriage (8 years) and so I can see arguments from the other side on why 50% would not be appropriate. However, your comments regarding increased final salary during marriage are valid here.

The fact that you are considerably younger than he is works in your favour because you would need more of the capital to produce the same amount of income (equality of income basis). As you cannot retire yet this needs to be considered and allowed for anycalcs.

You are allowed to share his pension and if you can negotiate it by 50% (or more / less). By how much is by negotiation taking account the above (and any other issues I have missed).

I would suggest that an actuarial report is needed to decide on how these pensions can be shared. Jointly appointed and on an agreed basis.

If you need anything else please post again or PM.

Regards

Phil
The Divorce IFA

Although I am a Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Adviser my comments are given here as general guidance based on the (often limited) information available and does not constitute financial advice. They should not be seen as a substitute for detailed financial and legal advice.

I am sorry but I am going to say what a lot of people reading this are thinking, short marrage you a lot younger than him and earning a good wage and you want most of the assets half his pension, keep your own pension plus a fair amount of CM (no prob with that) and childcare costs as well...and what exactly are you putting into the pot ??
Now i might have got this all wrong, correct me if I am, or do you just want to screw him ?

You and your husband are free to agree whatever settlement you both think is fair, however, i think it is unlikely that you could justify a 50/50 pension share.

Your husband is 54, so the pension has presumabl been built up over a working life of 30+ years. He has only a comparatively short time left before retirement so will have less time, and fewer opportunities, than you, to rebuild lost pension.

I think it is reasonabel to lok for an unequal split of the other assets, taking nto account your lower income and the fact that you appear to be the primary carer for your child so will be likely to have higher income needs.

I would sugegst that obtaining an actuarila report to findout the split required to eqaulise the pensions built up during the marriage/relationship would be appropriate, then if you seek a higher proportion of the capital to offset lower income you have to option, if you chose , of investing some of that capital into a pension or other retiement savings.

That said, your solicitor, who has the fullest information about the finaces, will be better placed to advise in relation to your specific situation.

Thanks for all the helps. I am not sure I agree with some of the arguments here. When we are married, everything becomes matrimonial assets. He cheated on me and wanted to be out of the contract, abandoned a little child and the marriage vows. I am certainly entitled to at least half of everything we own. This is not about screwing him, it is about my and my child's future. I also want what should be mine legally. My contribution to the marriage is the same as him, if not greater. English law does not say the pension before marriage is separate, unlike the Scottish law. Will these "he is older, less time to recover" arguments actually valid? His pension will be plenty anyway (I calculated it would be about 45-55K annually when he retires) even if I share 50% of it. The fact that I have to care for the child with a full time job, I can not travel and this limits my potential for promotion, can I use these to argue against it.


Thanks again, and I welcome your advices.

I am really sorry you were cheated on, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy,but you use words like "entitled" "contract" and "legally" what about "fair" will your income be any less than what it was before your short marriage after any CM.
"His pension will be plenty" well thats alright then, and if you hadn't married you would be earning so much more than you do now Mmmm.
Your childs future is important and you ex should have a full part in that, both with CM and with other support but your future should be yours to sort, or are you helpless without your ex ?
You might find that in a short marriage not all assets become matrimonial what you both brought to the marriage might be looked at.
I wish you good luck but do think about "fair" it makes life a lot nicer.

Funny you are saying that, I was on much higher salary before I move to UK to marry this man, and waste my youth on him! Surely I can also use this as an argument against him too! As into a marriage, we are committed for a life time together, just because the marriage is 8 years rather than 10 or 20 years, that all assets are not matrimonial assets? In this case I bought half the holiday home using my pre-marriage savings, this should not be put in the pot either. I do not think this should be the case. as the "White vs White case", The Court's aim should be to achieve a fair result and before making a division of assets a judge should check his tentative views against the yardstick of equality. As a general guide, equality should be departed from only if, and to the extent that, there was good reason for doing so. Is there a good reason for not having the 50%-50% of the pension share?