Exh has got the sack during divorce proceedings.

[Youcansaythatagain]

Hi all. Need some advice please. Final hearing in March 2021. Exh’s solicitor has informed a credible source that exh has been dismissed from his job. Exh was due to retire in 2 years time after 27 years in a public sector job. I feel that I need proof.
The financials are nowhere near sorted. My past solicitor ( I’m now LiP) had advised exh to not apply for the Decree Absolute until the finances were done. The advice was ignored. Exh wants the house sold and split 50:50 and a share of my pension in his favour. He petitioned for divorce after he turned his abuse towards me into alleged abuse from me towards him, (DARVO) without proof.
I don’t agree with the letter of instruction because exh’s main pension has remained undisclosed. I cannot make an informed choice. Judge at FDR suggested that house be sold after youngest finishes uni in 2 years time.
Does anyone know what might happen with the proceedings now that exh has been sacked from his job?
I have run out of guesses.

Where is he living? If he has a secure home it may not change too much.

As part of the finance proceedings you can ask for proof of his job loss such as a dismissal letter. You can’t really guarantee what a judge will say, I’ve found it depends on which judge you get and what mood they are in.

It really depends on the judge. In my case the judge took the view that the original agreement stood and that ExH was a twat to loose his job and could crack on and find another ( he didn't use quite those words). He pointed out that ExH had no childcare responsibilities and so could really take on any hours. ExH didn't like this as he likes to be his own boss, and sees working in a shop etc as beneath him

How much if his pension will you get?

To ChocolateMice05
Living with his brother ( so form e says) rent free.

Lonecatwithkitten
No agreement- just exh demanding that the house be sold and split 50:50 and a share of my all pensions in his favour.
No idea what his pensions are. His form e said ‘pension calculations pending’. That was 18 months ago. Pensions still pending on the letter of instruction to pensions expert, yet wants me to agree to what he wants.

SmallChrismas
No idea how much of his pension I will get. He wants 50:50 of all pensions shared in his favour. No contact whatsoever with me and our 3 young adult children who are at uni. I don’t know how his lawyer could ask me to agree to their letter of instruction to the pensions expert when I have no idea what his pensions are - unless they know but will only make a disclosure when the time is right for them?

If anything was pending reply to his solicitor saying you aren’t in a position to make any decisions as you haven’t had a full disclosure, and ask when you can expect the missing information.

Yes I agree with ChocolateMice.

If he's worked in the public sector job for 27 years chances are he's got a huge pension pot.

He can demand 50:50 all he wants, doesn't mean he'll get it. As for losing his job, this shouldn't affect anything, he was employed when you separated and just because he doesn't have a job doesn't mean he gets a bigger slice of the pie. This will depend on who the primary Carer is for your dc. That said, if she's in uni then it probably won't make a huge difference.

My advice is do not sign or agree to anything until you've seen his pension. As I said, public sector pensions are huge in comparison to private sector.

I worked in a public sector job for 10 years in the early 90s and I amassed a final salary pension pot of nearly £250'000.

Just to clarify the £250'000 pension pot was only for my 10 years in public sector job, I was on an ok salary, think lower level team leader/management.

Can you imagine what his pension might be if he's worked public sector for 3x the length of time as me! No wonder he doesn't want to declare it.

I'd take to court and they will make him declare his pension. I think you may be surprised.

How much is your pension OP? You may be entitled to more than half of the pensions as they factor in higher women’s life expectancy and future earning ability.

Don’t get your hopes up re his pension. I too have worked in the public sector for that amount of time and mine is apparently just under a grand a month if I retire aged 60.

We don’t get told what our total pot is worth. We get told what we will get annually. And a lump sum if we have that (optional).

Thank you all. Lilylongjohn- that figure has bowled me over, no wonder why he doesn’t want to disclose. When I found out about him loosing his job, my body literally shut down. I’ve heard of people either resigning or getting themselves the sack so that they can claim the other person’s pensions and worse still I was thinking that he would next make himself homeless so that we would have to sell the house before the youngest finishes uni in a few years time as was suggested by the judge at the FDR.
ChocolateMice and SmallChrismas. I will not sign until I get formal calculation of some sort from exh’s side re pensions. I am angry that he and his side think that I must be stupid to sign for a share of pensions in HIS favour without knowing if he’s got £25 or £250,000+ after 27 years of full time employment!
I’m on the case as soon as his solicitor’s office is open. In fact going to draft an email in preparation now.
You’ve all helped me get my fight back and to keep the overthinking at bay!

Definitely don’t sign anything until you see his pension figures. It’s likely to be a really good final salary pension. Your solicitor should be telling you all this. He can easily get the pension details with one phone call to his former employer.

My pension is £200,000 for 10 years full time and 20 years part time also in the public sector. I semi retire when turned 55 three years ago.
Elieza- Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. If only Exh can show me some kind of official figure to work on.

He can’t not disclose it.

As others have said you need to know his pension figure.

When I divorced my exh we both had to disclose our pensions, savings, house value etc. We then agreed a fair split.

My ex also public sector. I have had a share of his pension, but he had none of mine.

Please make sure you seek appropriate legal advice before making any decisions. I honestly did not know the value of his pension and would not have thought of a pension share if if not sought legal advice.

SmallChrismas - I no longer have any representation. My money was used up by chasing exh to sign forms in time for court and to answer endless and really ridiculous allegations which were unrelated to my lifestyle and funds. He ran out of funds when my stuff was up and ready to go. Now he’s got himself his fourth lawyer, he has no job!

He sounds a nightmare.

Your advice have been invaluable! I really thought that I was going to crack over Christmas thinking the worst.
If I don’t get formal docs re his pensions allowing me to make an informed choice before the final hearing I will let the pensions experts know that the letter of instruction will have to remain unsigned by me. The bill for the experts is £1800 each.

Yes SmallChrismas!
Hopefully I can wake up from it very soon!

I know this is some time ago but my solicitor told me that it would take at least 2 years to make my ex sell the house - not including all the delaying tactics of 18 months he'd already done

Plus now Covid - honestly you could just do nothing and it would take him years to force you to sell

LaurieFairyCake
I have done everything I can possibly do and have complied up to the hilt despite him petitioning for the divorce after turning the tables and making me out to me the baddie. He put me through the courts for not having submitted my form e at the very beginning. When I submitted mine his was not ready until 5 months later. So much for the rush! Utterly shambolic.
There is nothing more I can do but to wait for him to finish off what he started.

Don’t get your hopes up re his pension. I too have worked in the public sector for that amount of time and mine is apparently just under a grand a month if I retire aged 60

A pension to provide a grand a month will still have a value over £100'000 in most cases

Using the 4% rule, a grand a month would need a pot of 300k. However it varies, my DH just cashed in a 13k a year pension for 635k.

Thank you lilylongjohn.
I have no idea what his is worth plus I remember reading on his form e that the same elusive pension was deferred either 8 or 12 years ago.

SmallChrismas
That has got me thinking. If he cashed anything in I wouldn’t know. Just like I didn’t know about him deferring the pension.