Laywers didnt advise exH had removed £ from pension already

[medianewbie]

ExH had a local authority pension.

I Divorced in Scotland so first did the Minute of Agreement (£ separation) then the Divorce part (where £ Minute of Agreement settlement is put into place). There was a gap of 13m between. Lawyers really hopeless. I now discover exH began his pension (on ill health basis) 18m ago (paid £15k p/a pension) plus he drew down £20k then. The 'pension pot' was only split (50:50 one month ago.

Pension Co 'can't do anything' but did say they wrote to Lawyers to advise & said Lawyers might want to look at division arrangements again.
I've looked back & Lawyers emailed me around then to say: 'all good, go ahead & sign Minute of Agreement (legally binding). Attached to the email was the note from pension Co but I didn't notice at time as my young person was in hospital.

My Qus are: should the Lawyers have advised me better ?
can I recover any of the 20k ? does the fact that exH has had 18m worth of pension payments make any difference (its a LA defined benefits pension)

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So your lawyers told you he'd done this and you didn't notice yes?
And this is all because he has ill health such that he can't work in the same role?

I have no idea if you can do anything about this but if I've understood those matters correctly my feeling would be that morally you shouldn't be looking to do anything about it,

The point of splitting pensions is to ensure you are both on an even playing field and have your needs equally met according to what's available. If his needs have seriously changed that is going to change a settlement.

Of course if he's bullshitting re his health that would be very annoying and wrong

@dumpydumpydumpdump He retired BEFORE we signed the agreement. Removed 20K cash & (has since been taking pension). Pension Co wrote to lawyers just before we signed to advise that & suggested we might wish to renegotiate. Pension co attached that to an email main body of which said: 'all sorted sign now no reference to the attachment no suggestion we renegotiate as I will lose out'. I trusted them to act for me. At time my eldest was seriously ill.
ExH has no responsibility for either of his 2 disabled young people. I have 24/7 responsibility whilst being disabled myself. I deserved 50% of that pension, not 50% minus 20K plus pension paid from whole pot for the intervening 15months (though whether this reduces my 50% share now idnk)

It's certainly worth raising this. The first step would be to make a complaint to the firm. If that's not resolved within 8 weeks you can take it to the legal ombudsman (who cover inter alia complaints about poor information, lack of explanations etc).

I can't give you a view on whether they will uphold your complaint but I would say there is at least some chance. Given that you can do all of this yourself for no cost, what do you have to lose?

While it’s unfair I expect will be very hard to get it set aside and likely cost you more to do so than you’d gain.

its worth asking as per pp but I would be doubtful it will change anything. Might be wrong but I wouldn’t personally get your hopes up

I would definitely complain to the law firm. You have lost out quite substantially and they should have flagged it up.

Yeah I'd complain. Looks like they dropped the ball.

Thank you. I don't t want the whole agreement set aside, but I would like compensation from the law firm as I've lost 10k as a minimum (50% of the 20k taken from pension pot)

If he's retired early due to ill health I can't see how you've lost out. Did the minute of agreement say you got 50% of the pension? Did it say anything about the lump sum? Is the payment he is getting in violation of the agreement?

Yes Min of Ag said 50% of pension pot. But that was pension was already in payment unbeknownst to me. Plus exH had taken 20k cash out. Pension Co wrote to Lawyers to say: 'strike out your wording as pension being paid put already & might want to renegotiate on behalf of your client'. They didn't.

You could write to complain to the senior partner of the law firm you used stating your solicitor was negligent and didn't renegotiate with exh over £20 drawdown on your behalf of even discussing it with you. You have nothing to lose.

As others have said I don't think there is any harm in putting in a complaint. If the pension was already in payment though and you knew that (you had seen the email) I don't think t HR ere is really anything that will come of it. But no harm in trying

But would an ex ever get more than 50% of a pension? I think it's likely the ship has sailed, there were never actual sums of money specified, just percentages. Do you start getting your share now too, because if so that dies benefit you surely?

Highly unlikely you’ll get compensation

@caringcarer - thank you.

There was a fixed figure in the Minute of Agreement - I will now receive less. Also, I cannot take a sum out of my pension now as he already did this. It has made a considerable difference. He is still able to work if he wishes. I cannot as I am a 24/7 carer to our 2 disabled young people (he has no contact with them at all).
The Pension Co wrote to Lawyers advising they renegotiate. Lawyers did not reply & not even discuss it with me. It is one of a number of errors they made but will still affect me aged 65.

This makes no sense if he was in receipt of a DB pension. DB pensions dont have a pot as such, they have a ‘promise to pay’ an amount of money for life. Therefore it is not possible to ‘draw down’ a lump sum as such. In addition, as he has been awarded IHR, he would have received all his pension at that point. Im assuming here that the lump sum aspect of his DB pension may be around 3x his annual pension, so on a pension of £15k he may have actually received £45k. It isn't usually possible to swap part of the lump sum for annual pension. I’m also confused as to why the pension provider is ‘advising’ the solicitor - all they are expected to do is produce a CETV to show the value of his pension in preparation for the divorce, and this is examined by the court to determine the pension sharing order.

This isn't correct you can still take a lump sum from DB pensions

It sounds like you've been badly advised OP. Maybe talk to citizens advice?

It will be a lump sum which is paid out if it is pension from public sector. You can't just dip into it and take money out.

Presumably you get DLA or PIP payments if you say you are disabled?

I can see why you are frustrated that you get no help. But I can't imagine he is rolling in money if he is getting by on £15k/year. I wouldn't be surprised if you get double that in various benefit payments.

You absolutely need to take advice and take action OP and of course you have good reason to. I think some posters don't understand what you are asking or the financial implications. You could report your thread yourself and ask for it to be moved to Legal

What was the date you were asked to provide details of your finances on? Was it before he took retirement ?

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@converseandjeans I didn't ask for advice about benefits, I asked about Pensions. If you think that £81.50 a week Carers allowance is adequate for 24/7 care then I suggest you may be inexperienced about what this entails. The Govt does not think this enough to live on, so tops this up with UC. The total amount I receive each month, for myself, a 20 year old and a 17 year old to live on is £49 more than my exH was receiving in private Pension per month for the last 18m (less now split).

If you think 50% of a Pension gained over 20 years whilst my exH was free to work in whichever job he chose whilst I had to be responsible for two disabled young children, 24/7 whilst disabled myself & at the end of it all he left, then decided to take a joint cash chunk from Pension for himself is OK as 'I probably get more in benefits' then I honestly don't know what to say to you.

I get you are v frustrated. I get that it’s crap. But to get compensation you’ll have to prove that there was a case for negligence or you were deliberately misled ( I presume as I’m not a lawyer). I think that will be hard, and very costly because of course any law firm will dispute such a claim and you are also responsible ultimately to check documents and understand them
prior to signing.

as said I’m not a lawyer so it’s worth raising a complaint and some questions with your lawyers and at least getting some proper advice to see if there is a case or not.