Divorce + Pensions

[Tricky]

Anyone an expert (or experience of)...

Starting ye old divorce process .... Got petition in post today and the Prayer! is:

1. Marriage dissolved (OK with that)
2. I pay the costs of the Suit
3. Maintenance pending suit, periodical payments, secure provision, lump sum or sums and property adjustment orders for herself as may be just
4. Order under Section 25B and C for my Pension benefits inc lump sum on death

I am OK with 1
2 assume she wants me to pay Court costs - but what about her solicitor?

What does 3 & 4 mean?

Help! - I don't have a solicitor as yet (but will do by Monday PM)!

[SMHarman]

3 looks like maintainance, life cover on you incase you die before she does so she gets a lump sum instead of ongoing maingainance, lump sums to equalise assets, further monies to equalise any property assets you have
4. looks like the requirement to set aside and protect a lump of your pension assets for her benefit in retirement.

Remember this is the filing where you file and ask for the world. The two of you need to sit down and work out what the realistic settlement is and then get that documented.

No children by the looks of that filing.

[Tricky]

Yep 1x Child

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Tricky

Yep 1x Child

Oh, I suppose with the CSA you don't need to address child support in the divorce filing.
I guess you would want to address custody arrangements in your response.

Once you realise that Divorce is like any other adversarial court process it all makes more sense. Her divorce claim is not really any different than a business suing another busines because it has not paid the bill.

You the defendant then respond with a counterclaim. I have not paid because and on top of what you are asking for I want ot ask for...

Then it commences...

Realistically the two of you should try to sit down and go through assets and liabilities, parenting plans etc and try to end up with your lawyers and what you both want compromising along the way and get them to process that through the court. Otherwise you will end up spending a college education on lawyers fees.

There are divorce mediation specialists that can help in this process. The two of you and a mediation specialist work to what is the best compromise solution for the two of you without tens of hours of lawyers fees.

Bestest for all that. It's no fun.

[Tricky]

cheers - I have seen a few websites recommending "mediation specialists"
Reckon she probably has a bigger pension and more savings so counterclaim could be an interesting one!

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

You will need to get your pension pot valued so that it can be added to all the other assets that need to be split. Generally what happens is the you will keep the pension pot (as you cant cash it in and get access to the cash) but you then lose out on other assets to the equivalent value.

[AntiSilence]

Just one question: If you owned your own business (not a limited company) and you get divorced, would she get any of your business even if she'd not been involved with it in any way?

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by AntiSilence

Just one question: If you owned your own business (not a limited company) and you get divorced, would she get any of your business even if she'd not been involved with it in any way?

Yes, even if she hasnt contributed financially she has "looked after the family home" which has a value in terms of contributing to the family unit

[AntiSilence]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

Yes, even if she hasnt contributed financially she has "looked after the family home" which has a value in terms of contributing to the family unit

That's it then... Never getting married!

[Tricky]

Originally Posted by AntiSilence

That's it then... Never getting married!

Amen! - Once bitten and all that ...

[Scarlett]

Defn. go for mediation first and try to sirt down an come to some arrrangement between yourselves. Apparently a standard divorce costs £10K each in solicitors letters etc. if you get to that.

Mate of mine going through that right now and his ex is now ONLY communicating through solicitors letters.

[etccarmageddon]

if you're not good with numbers I suggest when your solicitor presents to you the figures on what you're splitting etc you then check it over with an accountant.

one of my friends - who is easy to bambosal with numbers was told she's getting a lump sum of £29k and it sounded great. until I pointed out to her that £26k of it was from original joint funds so she already owned £13k of it.

[Alien]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

Yes, even if she hasnt contributed financially she has "looked after the family home" which has a value in terms of contributing to the family unit

It's a pity prenups aren't legally binding in this country.

Just a thought, but what if the 1 with the business payed their spouse an allowance of an amount sufficient to be considered payment for their role as house-wife/husband, in recognition of it being a full time job itself. Surely then it could be argued that they had already been paid for their contribution?

[Hom3r]

A ex-wife is entitled to a chuck of her ex-husbands pention

Originally Posted by Tricky

Anyone an expert (or experience of)...

Starting ye old divorce process .... Got petition in post today and the Prayer! is:

1. Marriage dissolved (OK with that)
2. I pay the costs of the Suit
3. Maintenance pending suit, periodical payments, secure provision, lump sum or sums and property adjustment orders for herself as may be just
4. Order under Section 25B and C for my Pension benefits inc lump sum on death

I am OK with 1
2 assume she wants me to pay Court costs - but what about her solicitor?

What does 3 & 4 mean?

Help! - I don't have a solicitor as yet (but will do by Monday PM)!

Don't let her get her hands on your pension, I made that mistake when I got divorced she didn't sign a clean break order meaning she was entitled to any money I came into, her solicitor was a shy one to say the least, when my pension matures in another 15 years time she'll get half of what I get each week.