Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Divorce/separation

Here you'll find divorce help and support from other Mners. For legal advice, you may find Advice Now guides useful.

Flip

Original poster

Please help with this pension for dummies question

18 replies

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 12:11

The ex has a pension of 110K, which is a standard one, not defined benefit or anything of that sort. You can tell how little I know about this. We were going to do a pension evaluation with an actuary to equalise pension in retirement but now my solicitor says there's no point as it's not a big pension. I'm confused about this, as it was her who initially proposed the pension report. And on this board I always read that a pension report is a must.

For context, both of us are mid to late 40s, him earning 100+ salary and me 20k. I have no pension of my own (self employed)

OP posts:

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 10/12/2021 12:14

I agree with your solicitor. It's not a big enough pensiont to warrant paying out for an actuary to produce a report.

Just get a CETV, which stands for Cash Equivalent Transfer Value, which your ex will have to get from the pension company and will tell you how much the pension is worth.

threebillboards · 10/12/2021 12:17

Presumably your solicitor is giving you good advice and its not worth the bother as you may end up with £5 per month in 25 years time. The pot is frozen at the time of divorce and further inputs into it won't count for you. It also depends on how long the marriage has been as pre marriage you won't have a cut of his contributions.

Ask the solicitor to clarify what the actual financial benefit is to you.

Original poster

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 12:22

The whole amount is from the marriage as it's been a long marriage and none of it is from before.

OP posts:

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 10/12/2021 12:26

It also depends on how long the marriage has been as pre marriage you won't have a cut of his contributions.

It's not as black and white as that. Everything is open to negotiation in a divorce financial resolution so depending on what the OP negotiates she could easily get half the value of the pension. If they can't agree between them then the judge decides. My judge decided that I was entitled to 50% of the value of the pension, including one that he had for 6 years before we married.

TheresACrackInEverything · 10/12/2021 18:10

That seems quite a small pot for someone on that sort of salary. Is he in employment or does he work for himself?

Original poster

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 18:24

He is in employment @TheresACrackInEverything. Yes the solicitor said that's a small pot too, all things considering. I don't know if he's lying about it but that was what he said on Form E 🤷🏽‍♀️

OP posts:

TheresACrackInEverything · 10/12/2021 18:29

I can't fathom it then. Usually between him abs employer there would be 8-10% going in a year. He may have opted out but that would be pretty daft on that salary - because he's throwing away the employer contribution and getting taxed on the money.

Amberflames · 10/12/2021 18:31

Has he moved jobs at some point? It’s possible he has a couple of different pensions from different employers and hasn’t disclosed them all.

Amberflames · 10/12/2021 18:32

OP not the question you asked but you can still pay into a private pension if you are self employed. You still get tax relief on the contributions. You just don’t get an employers contribution.

Original poster

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 18:34

I'm confused too, and now I'm panicking a bit. He wouldn't lie on a Form E would he? We're not going to court (yet) if we can decide on a settlement ourselves, through a solicitor. He's been in this job for 16 years.

OP posts:

Original poster

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 18:34

@Amberflames

OP not the question you asked but you can still pay into a private pension if you are self employed. You still get tax relief on the contributions. You just don’t get an employers contribution.

Thank you Amberflames, I will look into this.

OP posts:

WobblyLondoner · 10/12/2021 18:44

@TheresACrackInEverything

Agree that the value you've quoted seems low for someone on that salary, assuming he has been there for some time. I don't suppose you have/can access any old pay slips - assuming the deductions are done at source they will tell you what he has been paying.

SeasonFinale · 10/12/2021 18:46

Remember the obligation for employers to provide and contribute to pensions only started a couple of years back. You will know whether your ex chose to have a private pension before then presumably. We left it quote late because we had other outgoings earlier on in our marriage and child support so it was on the back burner.

Original poster

apptnotes · 10/12/2021 18:50

He took all his stuff when he moved out, including all his files. I remember him saying some years ago that his employer contributes a very good amount to his pension, but all I have is the figure he gave on the form.

OP posts:

titchy · 10/12/2021 18:54

Would the CETV show his actual contributions? I agree it does sound suspiciously low for that sort of salary. And people do lie even on court forms...

Switch82 · 10/12/2021 18:54

My DH is on about 120k now he’s gone from £40k to 120k in 14 years with the same employer and has a pension of that level about £120-130k it’s bizarre as I haven’t worked for a few years and mine is worth the same! We’ve gone to a financial advisor who is now investing it through AJ Bell into different funds as is mine

BackBackBack · 10/12/2021 20:46

Something doesn't add up. Someone on a 6-figure salary would have a larger pot than that. Even though employer contributions weren't mandatory until recent years, many private sector firms would offer a contribution to a pension scheme as part of the benefits package.

He needs to provide a dated valuation of his pension pot. I suspect the real value is higher than £110k.

OnceUponAThread · 11/12/2021 00:21

If he's made comments about good employer contributions in the past - he's lying to you, either about the value of that pot, or he's hiding other pots.

That's a very small pot for someone on his salary. Is it possible he had a DB in the past which then closed and he moved across to DC? And he's only declaring the DC?

People do lie. I know of a situation where someone tried to hide a DB pension worth over half a million. Fortunately my friend (the wife) remembered the paperwork and got experts involved and managed to prove it. Made an enormous difference to the whole settlement.

Ignore the PPs talking about CETVs. They don't exist for a DC pot. What's there is what's there and that is the cash value. If the pot is truly just £110k - then that's all the pensions money he has on the table.

It goes in with the assets generally and can be easily split.

There's absolutely no point in paying for a pensions report if that's all he has - they're expensive because they do complex calculations, work out DB and balance pots. If there's just one pot there's no point.

If I were you, my main focus would be working out if he's hiding pensions. Look up all his employers on the Pensions Tracing Service and see what schemes they had and when. Does it match what he's put? Was there ever a DB? Can you find info on matching contribution offers. Build a picture.

In your question responses to Form E, make sure you clearly state that the pension seems low and you want to make sure there's nothing missing.

Flip