How is Pension Share worked out?

Hello,

Going through divorce - married for 18 years, husband has a army pension in payment with CETV value of £270K, I have a pension with CETV of £40K. This is the only asset. Would be interested to know from others how a 50/50 share would be calculated? Would my pension CETV be offset against his pension and then we would split the difference, or would they take into consideration how many years we were married while he was paying into the pension (12 years). Any advise would be appreciated. Many thanks, Steph.

Sorry, Steph, pensions, and especially service pensions, are a matter calling for specialist advice, either from a solicitor who is well versed in the subject or from an actuary. There are one or two people on this site who know these things. For 99% of the people who post on wiki, they are not licensed IFA's.

LMM

Thanks for your response. Agree, army pensions seem to be a completely different entity ....... I'd be interested, though, to get feedback from other boarders about their arrangements if possible?

Hi Steph

In my case I had two small pensions which were added to his Army Pension then divided 50/50. I retained my pensions and 42% of his.

Bearing in mind that I was with my ex for 19 years all of which were whilst he was in the Army. There were no other real assets.

As Mike said you need advise from specialists.

Asram

Hi Steph, I am going through a divorce with my husband who is in the Royal Navy. Having looked into military pensions and divorce over the past year my advice would be for you to get your husband's Army pension valued by an actuary. It will cost alot to do this but you will find that the value of a military pension (as they are index linked etc) is worth much more than the CETV. I think it would cost about £1000 to get it valued but it could be valued at 50% more than the CETV so worth doing. Good luck to you ! I hunted for a solicitor who had experience of military pensions and this seems to be helping as it is a specialist area( as Mike has mentioned)
Good luck to you !

Steph, you need a like for like comparison, comparing your CETV to your husband's is comparing apples and pears. Also, if you are looking at pension sharing you really need to understand the impact of applying a sharing order in terms of what income / cash sum it would provide you along with the reduction which would be applied to your husband's pension.

Thanks for your advice, Ian. My (ex) husband's pension is in payment, and he is currently receiving approx £6K p/a from this. At our recent FDR there seemed to be some concern (from his solicitor, mainly) about the impact a pension share would have on the pension he is currently receiving and the impact it would have on his current financial situation (he is in a lot of debt, currently). Nevertheless, the Judge at the FDR still suggested that the pension share was the (only) option. Because no agreement was made, it is now going to a Final Hearing. My ex has now suggested a 50/50 split, etc. Obviously, I do not wish this to go to a Final Hearing due to costs (I have a lot of debts, also), and I am quite keen to resolve this issue soonest. I'm considering putting a proposal that suggests, say, I have 50% of his CETV or something similar, and if he refuses, to then suggest we get an actuarial report. Is it fairly safe to say that the results of an actuarial report would be more in my favour in terms of what I would be entitled to? Also, my concern is that if it does go to Final Hearing, whether the Judge would take into consideration the impact a reduce pension would have on my ex's current income, and rule out a pension share completely or suggest a much reduced one in my favour. Sorry for the long message, but I really am not sure what to do for the best. Many thanks, Steph