Is it morally wrong to put large amounts into pension.

[Gearandglasses]

I found out that my exh is doing this and is therefore paying less than 40% tax and also making CSA think that he is not as high an earner as he thinks. The difference is significant, think school fees for two per year.
I don't need the money to live since I work and take care of the children full time, it just seems a little off that he'd prefer to put money away instead of buying things for the children now, whilst they are small. It just left a bitter taste, since I have nothing left each month to even think about a pension let alone high contributions as all my money goes on the children.

It's not morally wrong to put large amounts into a pension. However of course it's morally wrong to do so in order to pay less for your own children.

pp nailed it. It’s not the action it’s the reason why

@Gearandglasses There are limits on how much can be put into a pension each year. When you divorced did you not get a financial settlement where his pension was taken into account? If you didn’t marry, he can do what he wants.

This is probably the only instance where it is morally wrong, assume he is chucking in an extra 30k to 40k PA.

No it makes financial sense if he can afford to do it and is not morally wrong. If he supposed to pay more CSA then that would be morally wrong. Can you ask them to recalculate based on the new information you have.

It is not in itself morally wrong to pay large sums into a pension if they are within the limits of the pension account itself. It is a financially savvy and tax efficient way of saving.

However, if, as I think you suspect, he is doing this to avoid paying towards his children then that is morally wrong, to me anyway.

I'm not sure you could prove it and what you could do about it though. That's another question.

It is morally wrong to intentionally deprive his children but sadly, many men feel their responsibility to their children ends with the relationship with their mother. Most don’t admit this even to themselves.

Men will feather their own nest and if the children don’t live in that nest…🤷‍♀️

A bit of a mixed bag response. I took a clean break settlement and have no claim to anything and I'd certainly not be interested in going to court to try and prove it. They aren't my finances. I assume there's lots who do it for a variety of reasons.

Paying more into his pension makes financial sense.

If he earns over £100k, under £125k (approx, can’t remember the exact figure) he will be avoiding losing his personal allowance and the cliff edge tax rate. If he doesn’t contribute to his pension, he would effectively take home less than he would earning over the limit. Google it!

There’s nothing you can do. My exH does this too.

*I don't need the money....

This is your answer. He pays you CSA. What's the problem?

It is normally considered to be tax-efficient to do this but in this case he is being very mean. I think men who do this are truly awful.

Maybe when the children are grown up and their father is self sufficient with enough money to contract out home maintenance, grocery delivery charges, cleaning person weekly, dental fees or care fees they will be grateful he took care of this by putting all he could into his pension.

It's sound financial sense. I assume your kids don't go without?

The motivation behind it is questionable if it has been done to avoid paying for his children.

But they are still going with less if their father is paying as little as he can.

Ofc no one is saying that he shouldn’t be paying into his pension.
It’s the ‘doing whatever I can to pay as little as I can in CM’ that is the issue. Just like those who suddenly go self employed and are paid fuck all but give themselves £1000x in dividends.

He sounds financially stable. The kids are probably getting spoilt and provided at his. Mum doesn't need the money. The issue is the money is not coming her way. I'm all for Dads paying their way 100%, which he does, but he's not there to boost mum's bank balance up.

If you don’t want to cater for your children’s needs .

I've always thought it was strange that income for CMS calculation purposes could be reduced by the entire £60k pension allowance. A proportion of it sure, but the whole £60k? Equally strange that CMS payments aren't indexed linked.

Will his children be the beneficiaries of his will? If so they may get the benefit of his pension at a later date.

@nitrofueled the OP may not think she needs it as such, but she's effectively subsidising his pension contributions at the expense of her own.

Re cms. You can ask for a variation if it looks like he's hiding money

I thought you could put as much as you like in, but you’ll be taxed over a certain amount?

This