Divorce, pensions and inheritance help

[Blackchloe18]

Divorce my husband and it’s all very amicable atm. We have agreed not to touch each others pensions and I won’t touch his savings. His savings are mostly made up of inheritance so my understanding is that I wouldn’t be able to have any of it anyway BUT he has added to his inheritance own savings account over the years - does that mean it is part of marital assets or not? The only reason I ask this is if he changes his mind about wanting half of my pension( Mine is substantial) . His pension isn’t. If he did decide to pursue half of my pension then I would pursue half his savings, but maybe I can’t if it’s mostly inheritance
Also I believe I’m correct in saying that even if we write in the consent order that pensions should not be included, the judge could overrule this decision.
Im not a money grabbing bitch btw, but if he takes half my pension it basically means I no longer have any equity in our mortgage free house as I would have to offset the 50% pension payment by giving him the equity meaning he gets the house and I wouldn’t have to start from scratch. We have one 15 year old child ( on highest rate of DLA) if that makes a difference? She wants to live with me but I’m conscious I might not actually have a house!

What would the picture look like if you did everything by the book, i.e. pooled your pensions and his savings including inheritance (which definitely sounds like marital assets to me) and halved it?

You absolutely would be entitled to his inheritance as well. It doesn’t matter how he came about it. It’s all money that he has which needs to be considered. You might be better posting this in Legal to get some really good advice though.

It depends where you live. In Scotland, inheritance isn't counted as a marital asset.

With my ex's pension, I didn't get a lump sum pay out. A percentage of it has been assigned to me, which I will get when I reach retirement age. I don't know if all pensions can work this way.

Inheritances can be ring-fenced if they're kept separate from marital finances, but if it was received in the marriage, has been mingled with marital assets (like savings) or if it is a "needs" case, then it can be counted as marital assets.

Your housing situation would likely make this a needs based case. My ex-H tried to ring-fence his inheritance, and quoted the "Standish" case, but Judge didn't agree, ruled that mine was a needs-based case, and all inheritances (I had one too) were to be considered marital assets.

Always best to keep these things amicable, but should it get nasty, his inheritance, and definitely is savings, will likely be up for grabs.

ps. do make sure you get your fair share of all the assets - you future housing needs are important, especially if you have a child on DLA living with you. You should be entitled to a share of the savings, even if you amicably agree to leave his inheritance alone.
You will both need to do a financial disclosure (form E) and it should be relatively simple for him to be able to separate the inheritance from the savings.