Pension after divorce?

[Buildasnowman]

Name changed just in case....
Together 7 years, separated 1yr then divorced 1.5yrs. 2 children together, XH also has older child.
He is being horrible about child payment and access etc. just wondered - am I still entitled to go for part of his pension? With his company and his own contributions it is about £700 per month. I didn't ask for spousal maintenance (or whatever it is called now) just child maintenance which he doesnt pay the minimum
Thanks

whattodo its my brothers (ex) wife (for fear of being identified). He did leave her for another woman and I didn't agree at all with how it turned out. However I also don't agree with the way the courts treated him. He will pay over and above for a long period of time. She is also in the process of going for his bonus's too.

thank you - in my case my ex earns well over £200K, has a big house and has had 3 more DC, he gets significant bonuses every year, has 3 cars, blah, blah - now that the dust has settled I'm being told the agreement was unfair - he had lots of very expensive legal advice (I self-represented). So you can see my perspective. Things are not always as they seem.

Your ex sounds like he hasn't struggled at all to move on financially after divorce. I only hope that you (and your children?) got a fair deal - and you sound like a strong woman so I assume you did. Self Representation - wow! My brothers ex wife had expensive legal representation (also funded by him btw) hence the reason she ended up walking away with so much IMO.

YOu really need independent legal advice from a family solicitor. 7 years isn't a long marriage, although a period of co-habitation immediately before marriage may be added to the length of the marriage. With a shortish marriage or if your husband brought a substantial amount of pension fund acquired before the marriage to the relationship the pension may not be shared. Depending on your ages, the number of years to save for retirement, the value of the pension and the costs of pension sharing the pension may be taken into account in other ways e.g. offsetting the value of the pension against other assets. In any event before anything else the value of the pension (and any other assets!) needs to be ascertained.

Meant to say if you apply to the Child Maintenance Service they will carry out a basic calculation based on the non resident parent's gross income minus pension contributions. However the parent with care can then apply for a variation on the basis of diversion of income if the NRP controls their income and is paying unreasonable amounts into a pension or there is evidence they have recently increased their pension contributions to reduce child maintenance.

OP, even if you get a pension sharing order, you won't be able to take anything out tax free or otherwise until you are 55. The law will probably change next year, but not to make that age any younger.