Divorce and Pensions
Your pension rights are considered as part of your assets when financial settlement is attempted. The court will take any pension you have into account when you are looking to divorce or end a Civil Partnership. There are three ways the court can help you resolve your pension issues when you have an ex-partner or ex-spouse:
- Pension Offsetting
- Pension Earmarking
- Pension Sharing
It must be noted that unless you have a prenuptial agreement which separates certain assets from your current marriage, all financial assets you have will be examined by the court and divided as fairly as possible under English law. If you were previously married, you may want to allocate some of your pension for children from your first marriage. Consequently, the court will take your individual situation into consideration before deciding upon the pension results.
Pension Offsetting
Pension offsetting is a balancing of rights as they relate to your pension and other income. Before this choice is used to arrange financial settlements involving a pension, the court will take into account the entire range of assets from both parties. If one spouse makes less or possesses less assets, the court can award a suitable portion of the pension to the spouse with fewer assets. For example, if one person gained the house then the other person may receive the entire pension to offset the value of the house.
Pension Earmarking
This type of pension resolution is an arrangement for one person’s pension; when the pension becomes available, to be split or paid to the other person. In England the payment is usually made in a lump sum; in which part or the entire pension can be given to the ex-spouse or ex-civil partner. At retirement the pension payment will be enacted, so the funds will not be available until the payment is due to be made. Death is another reason the pension might be paid out, in which case the designated portion is allocated to the ex-spouse or ex-partner.
Pension Sharing
This is a splitting of the pension during the divorce so that both individuals will have a separate pension in the future. Pension sharing is based on the transfer value of the pension and assets. This percentage can be higher or lower than the other person, depending on the situation and the divorce proceedings that are in existence at the time.
If you have any further questions with regards to Pensions, Financial Settlements and fixed fee rates, our team of accomplished Solicitors can answer all of your questions and will work to resolve any issues you may have.
Call us for EXPERT advice on: 0161 761 8099 or email us at: pinningtonlaw@whnsolicitors.co.uk
