Pension allocation when you divorce in your 60's

[Freespirit99]

Anyone have experience of this? My OH wants a divorce after 40 years together. I stayed at home with kids, but still supported him running our business and did a lot of work (unsalaried) on the computer/repairs etc as it was something we built together. Now we are retired and finally have the home I love, he has decided he wants a "fresh start" He has 2 small private pensions, I have nothing and won't get my state pension for another 6 years. His pension is paying out on a monthly basis. My question is, how much of his pension pot will I be entitled to be allocated. Children all grown up and left home, so no issues with child maintenance etc.

Marital assets would most likely be split 50:50...
So - it doesn’t matter that you worked unsalaried, etc.

But - you need to go and get proper legal advice. ASAP!!!

If you're in England, it's a matter for negotiation. There's no set percentage. The pension is part of the marital assets and will be divided up along with all the rest. The fact you didn't work does not enter into it. In Scotland, I think, there's a guaranteed 50/50 split.

You really need legal advice on this. It’s more complicated because you say his pension is already in payment. There’s some case law (it may be outdated now!) that actually treated a pension in payment not as an asset.

His 2 pensions might be 2 pots of money that he’s drawing down. But you talk about a monthly payment, so he may have bought an annuity. Different annuity types have different rules about pension sharing options on divorce.

Legal fees (according to a quick google, so you know, see a proper qualified person not a random like me on line who had a PSO and is interested in pensions!) are higher for pension sharing work when in payment as they’re more complicated.

Would you consider offsetting? That’s where you take a bigger percentage of other equity (the house?) but leave his pension to him. This might be simpler and suit you better.

But you really need to talk to a solicitor about it. 50/50 may be a common start point, but I’d be arguing that you’re younger, have a longer life expectancy (at least based on your gender), but both of you are beyond an age where you could reasonably expect to work again - so, I’d be arguing for more on that based. As a start point I’d take your statistical life expectancy less current age, and split proportional to the years.

If I was looking for a solicitor, I would specifically ask if they had experience in divorce during retirement, it’s not that common.

What role you played in the business and home isn’t relevant, long marriage, joint assets.

Have you checked your state pension entitlement, that you have the full number of qualify years for a full pension? If not, I’d blame that on your joint choices and argue for an additional percentage to balance that.

Good luck! x

Just noted that your work was unsalaried, so definitely check your state pension entitlement - did you pay up your NI stamp anyway?
And if you did, were you making the reduced married woman’s stamp?
That ended in 1978, but if you were already on it by 1978 you could continue subject to certain conditions. Based on you being in your 60s, it’s possible I think.
In any case, very common for women of your age not to qualify for a full pension, so you absolutely need to check that for your negotiations!
(you can check it here www.gov.uk/check-state-pension apologies if I’m teaching you to suck eggs!)