Pension sharing actuary valuation?

[Upordown]

I'm going through a DIY divorce. We are in agreement on most things except pension values. I want a actuary to value his 2 final salary persions as the cevt seems low. Are all actuaries equally as good or can someone please recommend one? Pensions are 'our' biggest assets but mine are pretty small following materity and part time working. Full time working for me wasn't viable due to his job. I work 30 hours a week now and am applying for ft work but I'm too old to make up the pension difference!

I used Jim Sylvester at Collins actuaries. They’re in the Midlands and I’m in the south but everything was done via email. My solicitor recommended him.

If the pensions are final salary ones then agreed the CETV can be too low.

Thanks. It's reassuring to get a recommendation as it's all so stressful😪

Very stressful but it will be over soon! Good you’re in agreement with most things - my ex and I had a very acrimonious divorce as he thought the law didn’t apply to him. Judge put him right

That sounds really hard. I'm keeping fingers crossed we stay amicable but he often does a complete u turn, so I just have to hope!

Ex Family Law Solicitor here (have emigrated). I used to instruct Actuaries for Lawyers.

I have used Jim Sylvester at work also and would recommend them.

Have also used Actuaries for Lawyers with no issues.

You will need to get some quotes, actuaries are quite expensive but if your pensions are your biggest assets, definitely important and worthwhile 👍

Thanks everyone. That gives me a few options now. There's also BDM through wikidivorce. Not sure about the quality though as they are cheaper. I'll get some quotes as you suggest. This will stop me from procrastinating! And maybe stop me from waking up at 4am...

Can I trouble you for some more advice? Just when I thought I understood it all, I've now been told actuaries don't provide a value any different to CETV, they just advise on how to equally share the pensions. How can that help if you are offsetting at least part of it? It seems that offsetting can only be done against the CETV.

This might help explain why a CETV is sometimes incorrect. www.sharingpensions.co.uk/penaudit2.htm

Ah, yes, that's what I need. An adjusted value of each pension would give us the flexibility to decide how we want to share and/or offset.
The actuary said the value wouldn't change; the pensions would just be shared according to the actuary report. I think I need to call them back!

I'm thinking of opting to take a percentage on retirement. We are the same age and his public sector pension scheme offers this - I worked it out as 22% based on 50% of the time married, quite crude but beneficial to me because he's had significant pay rises recently and I will get a 22% of what it ends up as (of course a risk if he retires early) as we are diy we are actually considering not bothering to seal finances because we've come to an arrangement that we don't think the judge would like, don't see why they need to interfere - it's not a standard situation.

Is that called earmarking? Would you lose your 22% if he were to die before you or if he remarried? I'm keen for a clean break as my h can be quite difficult to deal with at times.