What are our options?- police pension in payment

Hi,

We are trying really hard to be amicable. We have been separated for two years and are ready to divorce and finalise the asset split.

We were married for 26 years at the point of separation. Three grown up children.

So far we have received the commutation amount, settled all debts from the marriage and split the difference.
Sold the house and split equity 50/50.

So, the pension is in payment and my husband has been receiving €1400 per month since we split.


He earns approx £28k in his new job.
I earn £47k. I started my own occupational pension in 2010. I was unable to do this during our marriage.

He has offered a small amount (40-50K) as an offset figure - I am waiting for him to source a CEB.

What is a fair way to proceed in this situation given our incomes as we currently stand. I''m somewhat confused about how pensions in payment are treated - is it about equality of income now - or equality of pension income later.

Thank you for reading this far ...

Hi and welcome.

Its my understanding that pensions already in payment are classed as income and therefore treated the same way as income, but I might be completely wrong!

How old are you both?

I am assuming as he is still working that he is below State Pension age.

Has the 50:50 equity split allowed him to rehouse?

As things stand, his net earned income is about 1000 less than yours (depending on your pension contribution).

Am not sure if pension is net or gross £s or euros but it would appear to bring your incomes close to a level .. if net his would then be 400 more (or a bit less if euros).

It is perfectly possible to share a pension in payment - but as I understand it, if you share within the scheme you would not get a lump sum pay out on retirement as that has already been made.

If the pension was to be shared 50:50 then his income would go down by £700 (or euros?) .. so he would be £/euros 300 below your level. It may be that this is considered close enough .. or it may be that he should either have a small amount of SM until your retirement or that you should have a slightly smaller pension share to balance things out.

It may be a good idea to speak to someone like an IFA who specialises in pensions and divorce.

Hadenoughnow

Hi, we are 48 and 51 (him).
We are both in rented accommodation at the moment
He is living with his new partner so has shared costs.

It''s £££ not €€€

I think that at the moment he is bringing home about £3100 against my £2700.

We each have a small amount of savings - enough for a house deposit. He has more than me

Will we actually need a CEB I wonder?

Many thanks for your responses.

If this is the case re incomes then I cannot see an argument for anything other than a 50:50 pension split. You need to check if you can share within the police scheme or if you have to transfer into a different one. If you can share in the scheme that''s easy. If you cannot, you may need an actuary to help you work out what percentage you need for equality of income on retirement.

Hadenoughnow