Pensions - no idea!

[honeysuckleblossom]

I'll speak to my solicitor, but no idea if it's worth not considering pensions in our divorce.

Me (39) - CETV - £220k
Ex (34) - CETV - £160k

I know my pension pot is worth more but partly as I'm five years older. Also we are likely to have the best part of 30 working years ahead of us, and both worked FT. Assuming ex is happy, is it likely to avoid actuary costs of equalising pensions? Both in defined benefit schemes if that helps.

Basically no. The difference in the value will be due to a lot of other factors as well as a five year age gap. The CETV amounts will be added to your asset pile to be split up. To avoid the cost of a pension sharing order £1500-£2000 other assets would be assigned to your ex to make up the difference in amounts.

@Krieger thanks - I certainly can't afford for other assets to be assigned to my ex as it's housing myself now that I need to worry about. Just to add I do understand the long term planning needed with the pension! When I've finally divorced the knob, I'll be paying more into mine.

We used an actuary to offset value of house and pensions. It took months to do (under lockdown esp) and really extends the length of the divorce. We asked the actuary to look at house asset vs pension pot and equated my 57% gain on the house to only taking only 28% of the pension pot using a clean break option (rather than pension sharing). This is correct, pension values are not the same as monetary values and are dependent on many factors, the report outlines these factors and offers the couple a range of options for sharing or a clean break. The difference between your two pension pots may not equate to a huge amount later on, but possibly the money spent on the report might still be worth it, even if your divorce is prolonged.