Solicitor said pension is not be split in divorce!

[Jumbogirls]

A solicitor has just said STBX doesn't have to share his pension if he doesn't want to, which I found a little strange. Apparently, if I wanted to impose a pension share order, it'd end up costing me around £10k..has anyone been told this before?

He’s equally entitled to part of your pension as well, it may not be worth it. There are so many mistruths around divorce and entitlements, I wish people wouldn’t pretend to know. Marital assets are just that. Assets. Equity isn’t different from pensions (except in terms of liquidity). If you’re just going to spunk the entire value of the pension on getting your hands on it, you may as well wet yourself in the dark.

In Light of the fact he only sees his dc once a year and has given up his job presumably to avoid paying you child support and is potentially hiding money then yes I would go for half his pension as it looks like you're not going to get much financial support from him to raise his children. Check with your solicitor first on what it will cost to do so. Good luck op.

It will cost £2-3k to get pensions validated and then add on solicitors fees to request...if Ex won't agree then at least 10k court costs. Pension can't be taken as cash (at your ages) so you and Ex would need to find the cash to fund this.

Is Ex paying CMS? You might be better to ask for all equity in the house. There should be equity if bought 7 years ago and the mortgage was repayment. Or enhanced CMS, e.g If he paid £200 over CMS calculations for next 13 years it would be worth more than pension share.

A court is however likely to want you maximise your earning and pension contributions as you have nearly 40 years of earnings before pensionable age.

@Livinghappy Thank you. Not too sure of exact mortgage figures but he may have paid about £20k and since purchased the property has gained £25k in value. Regarding CM, he quit his job just before applying for a divorce so payments will stop this month (although he hasn't confirmed this). With him being jobless and potentially homeless, the court will unlikely be in favour of me taking full equity of the property as it wouldn't be seen as a fair settlement. I may just have to not bother with his pension and agree to whatever he wants just to get divorced. I am contributing a good amount into my pension. Very thankful to be in a financially stable position now.

@cushioncovers Thank you for this. I'm still in search of a good solicitor. I have 2 appointments next week, hopefully I'll like one of them.