Pension Sharing % Calculation

Hi,
I wonder if anybody could offer some advice please ? My partner had his Final Hearing in Nov 11. It was ordered that his stbx would receive a percentage of one of his pensions. She was ordered to receive 50% of a pension to the date of separation.

These are the details:

Pension started Sep 04
Date of Seperation Jan 09
Pension end date Mar 16
CETV as at Sep 11 = £38,210.46.

This is our calculation:

Length of marriage during service = 4 years, 4months (52 months)
Total length of service until Mar 16 = 11 years, 6 months (138 months)

Therefore
52 months 4 years, 4 months
138 months 11 years, 6 months
= 37.68 % / 2 = 18.84%

So, the stbx is entitled to a pension share of 18.84% - which equates to 50% of the pension during the marriage.

The stbx solicitor has worked out the 50% this way:
£38,210.46 (CETV as at Sep 11) divided by 84 months (Sep 04 – Sep 11) = £454.89 x 52 months (Sep 04 – Jan 09) / 2 = £11,827.14.
As a percentage this is £11,827.14 / £38,210.46 x 100% = 31%.

As the CETV was issued in Sep 11, 2½ years after the date of separation, surely, it is grossly unfair to use this figure as it distorts the calculation of what is a 50% share of the pension to the date of separation ?

I am really confused and truly believe that the stbx is only entitled to 18.84% and not 31%.

Any advice greatly received.
Many thanks

The logic behind the solicitor's calculation looks correct to me.

Your calculation uses the pension end date which is not relevant. Using the end of March 2016 makes no sense unless you also used the CETV in 2016 - but we do not yet know what the CETV will be in 2016.

You need to work out how much of the pension value was accrued between Sep 04 and Jan 09 - and then she should get 50% of that. The solicitor's calculation does just that.

The intent of the order seems to be that she should get 50% of what the CETV value would have been at date of separation.

The solicitor's calculation is based on estimating that the CETV on date of separation was £23654.28. She should get half of this amount so £11827.14.

Do you agree that she should get half of what was accrued during the time they were together? So half of what the CETV would have been on the date that they separated?

As the CETV was issued in Sep 11, 2½ years after the date of separation, surely, it is grossly unfair to use this figure as it distorts the calculation of what is a 50% share of the pension to the date of separation ?

Try some sums again and try to work out ..."What was the CETV on the date of separation?"...that is the key figure to work out....then just take half of that number.

Hi folks,

My ex has had a company pension since she first started work. If the CETV end date is taken at separation then when is the start date? Is it when we started co-habiting or when we got married?

Thanks

There is no substitute for independent professional advice. Whether pension sharing is likely depends on the particular circumstances in England & Wales.

It''s difficult to value pensions retrospectively and the way the OP says the solicitor has done it is rather crude probably because the fees entailed in giving someone a pension share of £11k usually make it not worthwhile. In those circumstances it is often better to offset pension against other assets, although there is then some discounting. Pension may not be realised for many years to come and are deemed less valuable compared to liquid assets.

As a general rule of thumb if a marriage was short, the couple are young, the value of pension fund isn''t that much and/or there are many years for the parties to save for their own pension there is no pension sharing. With a longer a marriage where assets originated is less important and if the couple are nearing retiring the needs of both parties is near the top of the list of factors taken into account. Both will need a similar income in retirement and it is likely the entire value of any pension will be shared.

On the other hand if one party married later in life and had accrued a substantial pension fund before they married and the needs of the other party can be met from other assets the contribution made before the marriage may be discounted.

You can''t calculate a settlement based on a CETV that was given in Sep 2011.
You need an up to date value and ask for the accrued pension values and retirement benefits which represent a much clearer view of the vlaue of the fund.