Taking pension early...?

[Cahu58]

Please can anyone help. I've been divorced for 11 years when I was awarded a good settlement. I received part of his pension which has been taken over by the Pension Protection Fund. I was hoping to retire a little early although not yet but the PPF have informed me the pension cannot be taken any earlier than 65 because of the terms of the divorce settlement.

Is there any way around this?

See an independent financial adviser.

You might be able to move the pension to a different provider and that might help. A good financial adviser will be able to tell you what your realistic options are.

If the Pension is now with the PPF then it's obviously a failed scheme and won't be able to go anywhere. You would need to find the terms of the settlement/consent order as that will detail what you had agreed to and signed. That the PPF have given you a fairly definitive answer suggests they have the paperwork to back it up so onus is probably on you to show that it is different if your court documents show otherwise

Thank you will try digging documents out