Pension rights

[LiarsWife]

I believe that I am entitled to a share of my STBXH's pension for the time that we were married.

As I do not believe that he will cooperate by getting a valuation how does this work in practice? Do I have to take him to court?

It should be taken into consideration when calculating your assets as a married couple. Your solicitor should have asked you for these details when drawing up your separation agreement. His own solicitor will ask him to obtain a "Cash Equivalent transfer Value" figure from the pension company (ie what the actual value of his pension pot is) and this should be taken into account when dividing up your assets. You should be able to negotiate on whether you want a pension share or the equivalent of your share in another form (ie cash or other assets to the same value). remember it may be better to take it in another form as it could give you access to the value now rather than waiting to retirement age. It depends what your own pension situation is I guess.

HTH

He won't be the first or last husband who has not wanted to co-operate with disclosing the value of his pension.

As Gillybobs has said, he will need to provide his CETV of his pension fund. If he doesn't do this on a voluntary basis and you will not be able to resolve financial matters amicably, then it will become necessary to issue ancillary relief (financial) proceedings. You will both then need to complete Form E financial statements and one of the many details to be completed is the CETV of his pension. If he fails to comply, then your Solicitor can advise you on how to proceed from then but hopefully this will not be necessary.

As Gillybobs has said, it may well be that you take 'your share' in another form (ie large share of the FMH) but that can all be determined once there has been full financial disclosure.