divorce settlement question / suggestions

[answerbanker]

My boyfriend is due to be divorced in a few weeks. He has 10 years until retirement, his current Pension lump sum forecast is £113,000. There are no dependants now, and his his wife works in Education,she lives in their home - mortgage still paid by him (plus some of the bills). Two grown up children - one just started Uni - living away, the other working away.
He has had to rent for 5 years but now lives with me.
They are trying to sort out an amicable, fair share.
By law what proportion of his Pension is she entitled to ?
Is it 50% of the value NOW, or if she chooses to wait til he retires will she be entitled to 50% of the amount THEN (which should be substantially more).
The House is worth £210.000 but has a few thousand left to pay on it.
They have a second home which is rented out worth about £170,000 but with a £150,000 mortgage on it.
Any suggestions of what she would lawfully be entitled to - or how to divide it ??? thank you

[boxtops]

I can't answer your question, but surely this is something which his solicitor is advising him on, as part of the divorce arrangements? This needs to be done formally, not just an arrangement between themselves.

I can only speak from many years back, when we split the value of the house was split 50/50 (we'd both been working full time and contributing) - he wanted to stay in the house so he bought me out. He didn't claim off my Pension (the rule was only just coming in at the time) but your BF needs to be sure that everything is as it should be - and there must be a formula about Pensions. He needs to ask his solicitor who's handling his divorce, to make sure everything is clearly negotiated and laid down in the settlement papers.

[woofgang]

There isn't a law on this (a friend has just been through it) Everything is put in the pot and then its agreed who will have what. The thing with pensions is that if she takes a share now, its hers and she can't lose it. If she waits and he marries again she risks getting less or nothing, the same if he marries again and divorces.
Honestly your bf needs to sit down with soon to be ex and an advisor, get it sorted out objectively and legally tied up.

[factor-fiction]

Hi I'm not sure what you mean by "Pension lump sum forecast is £113,000 ".

I'm puzzled because you don't get all your pension as a lump sum. Do you mean the fund value is £113000 (so he could take maybe a quarter as a lump sum and then get a small pension) or do you mean that his pension pot is worth around £450,000 and he can take £113000 as a lump sum and then draw a healthy monthly pension.
Anyway, all the pension figures will go into the pot along with other financial details. If they are trying to reach an amicable agreement and they are splitting everything else 50/50 then the pension benefits, house benefits etc should be split equally too. If they can't reach agreement then they'll need solicitors

[EDDIE51]

I would say that in this case it is ESSENTIAL to get everything 'watertight' legally , there is a lot of cash and property at stake and he does not want the ex coming back a few years later to try to get more. Do not do this as a DIY get a good solicitor on the case !

[factor-fiction]

I agree that this can get complicated. If they are both financially aware and numerate then they may be able to agree things amicably without having to split every single element 50/50 but if there is a lack of trust or either party feels uncomfortable with it they should get a solicitor.
Solicitors are expensive in these cases but its better to spend a few thousand pounds now to get the right deal than suffer 30 years of poverty or suspicion.
I wondered whether there are any online calculators for working these things out or whether any solicitors specialise in this for a reasonable 'fixed fee'.

[tonywiltshire]

Take care as there seem to be some quite large amounts involved, I would strongly recommend your BF sees a solicitor who specialises in divorce and gets his own professional advice in advance of any court proceedings, It is a commonly held belief that a spouse is entitled to 50% of any pension but this is not correct, a spouse may have some entitlement to believe that they will benefit from the pension when the other spouse retires or dies but on divorce they will have no entitlement.
The parties should try, hopefully with advice, to settle the split of their assets in advance, if not a judge will do so under the Divorce matrimonial clauses act taking some of the following, which is not exhaustive, into account.

The income, earning capacity, property and financial resources of the parties now and in the future.

Their present and future needs and the standard of living prior to the breakdown of the marriage, the value of any benefit lost due to the divorce, such as pensions, remember the law is unisex and the wife may have a pension, your BF may lose the right to benefit from this on divorce.

It can be complicated, if the pension or pensions are money purchase benefits it may be straightforward but if they are a defined benefit pension scheme this may not be as straightforward. The best advice I can give is to seek legal advice from an experienced solicitor.

[answerbanker]

thank you all
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