Pensions - after divorce but before finances sorted

[adv1ce1987]

All,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience/answers/advice?

Living together for 10 years - Married for 3 - Divorced without financial side of things being dealt with for 3.5 years. Cant sell the house due to IVA situation on ex part for the next 4 years so will have to wait until then to sort the finances out.

I have three small pensions (maybe 20k total - 10k of this post separation) Ex has NHS pension accrued during relationship (approx.50k but I don't know for sure)

EX has stopped paying pension (so they say)- either unaffordable or spiteful thinking they might have to share it with me?

I have absolutely no interest in Ex pension . But....

I have started to earn quite a lot more and would like to increase my pension contributions which are currently at 4% and put them to 12%. Would this increase in pension be safe from financial split considering we are divorced?

Any time I've looked for advice it just stated 'pension contributions during the marriage' will be considered in financial split....well the 'marriage' is over and has been for 2.5 years on paper.

Any advice would be greatly received. Thanks.

This is exactly why the divorce should not be finalised until the finances have been sorted first as I'm sure you are starting to realise.

If you think you and ex can get to an amicable understanding then you can get a Separation Agreement. Whilst not legally binding it does give the court an insight into both your minds at the time, similar to a pre-nup. However if you are not in agreement then the only way is to start the formal financial order. Download Form E from UK gov website and start filling it in.

A financial separation agreement is a written contract for separating couples (married or unmarried) to outline their finances, property, and child arrangements while they are separated, providing a framework for their future divorce or dissolution. While not inherently legally binding in divorce, it's a strong indicator of fairness and intent if properly drafted by a solicitor with full understanding from both parties, giving the court a basis to approve the financial settlement. This agreement can cover assets, debts, maintenance, and child arrangements, offering clarity and stability during separation.

Edit - to clarify, if you won the lottery today then your ex would still be entitled to some of it despite no longer bring married. You are still entwined financially according to the law.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes it was my ex who pushed the divorce through. I knew at the time it wasn't recommended but unfortunately, they knew better. There was nothing I could do t stop it.

I will have a look into these separation agreements but I cant see the ex being in favour.

Thanks again.

As the PP said, the claim remains dormant. A pension claim is one that survives a remarriage too.
You are best to get a financial order - that’s the only thing conclusive.
There is no legal rule or precedent that says he cannot claim against post-divorce accruals. It wouldn’t be a walk in the park for him to succeed, but ultimately needs can trump anything else. Get an order. If he won’t do this by consent you’ll need to file a court application. Both of you will have to provide disclosure (form E). I expect you’ll find he’ll agree then before you even get to the first hearing. You’ll have to attend a mediation information meeting (MIAM) before applying to court.
Don’t ignore this - I’m a family solicitor and unfortunately see the cases where people pop up with claims years later - esp where one has done better than the other since separation/divorce.

You need a financial order. The sooner the better. The pension sharing date is always the latter of the date of the decree absolute (now called Final Order) or the date of pension sharing annex - which is part of the financial order, plus 28 days. So the only way to balance what each other gets from each other’s pensions is by adjusting the percentage shared. By that I mean if you you don’t want him to have a share of everything up to the date of the Financial Order plus 28 days, (as in your case that will be your latter date) you need to negotiate that it’s not fair because you divorced x years earlier, and he shouldn’t get a share accrued beyond that date. Your pension provider only has to supply a divorce quote at a current date. They likely can’t and won’t do convoluted calculations for you of what the value would be at a date in the past. Though some might if you pay a fee for the extra work involved. Some people employ an actuary if it’s a high value pension to calculate the percentage to be shared.

Thanks for the replies.

The issue is the ex is not budging as they fear making any sort of move could result in them losing the house. They are prepared to wait it out for 4 years then go to Barclays to take the mortgage over solely in their name...at this point creating a financial order which will simply be buying me out for x amount.

If i applied for form E and court they wouldn't respond which would end up making me rack up a huge solicitors bill? I don't think I will receive much more than 20k in the end and the cost of taking them to court would be higher than this so pointless. It feels like my best course of action is just waiting until they are in a position to take on the mortgage alone?

There will be around 60k equity in the house depending on the market in 4 years. The ex believes they will only have to pay me what I put in for the deposit which is £6k

We went to mediation and it failed ( this was around 1.5 years ago) as the mediator gave up and said he couldn't help us and we would need to take it to court. At this point the ex dug in and everything went stalemate.

You don’t have to be represented to go to court, more and more people go it alone. It’s not the best option necessarily but it’ll get the job done. The court can make deferred orders for sale, if circumstances justify that, specifying your percentage now and including a deadline for you to be bought out and released from mortgage otherwise it’s sold. Starting point is 50/50.
It is really not wise for you to do nothing in this situation.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply you have definitely given me some food for thought! Thanks again!