You’ve made the decision to separate and have addressed a wide range of issues which you need to agree upon in order to move forward. One of the main aspects to be clear upon is your financial position within the marriage and in particular pensions.
It is important to ensure that you have a clear picture as to your partner’s financial position. This will then enable you to consider what financial agreement is fair. Many people think this just involves sorting out arrangements with the house. The Court, however, looks at the whole financial position to include pensions.
Often when separating, couples do not realise that they can share the pension of their partner or that they will be expected to share pensions. In a number of cases, this is important, for example when one person has a more valuable pension than their partner ie if one party doesn’t work or works part-time.
Pensions are a really important asset when considering income on retirement and must not be overlooked. There are also different types of pension schemes with public sector pensions having additional benefits which need to be valued.
In some cases, it will be important to ask a pension expert relevant questions so as to determine the value. This will then give you a clear picture to enable you to make an informed decision.
At Awdry Law our team of highly qualified, friendly legal experts will advise you if a report is needed and this will reflect, the type of pension and other relevant factors particular to your needs. There is a cost and it will take time but wouldn’t you prefer to know what you would be giving up before making that decision?
If you have any questions or if we can help in any way regarding any Family Law matter, please click here to contact a member of our knowledgeable and highly experienced Family Law team today to arrange your free initial consultation.
