Recent figures show that pension sharing is on the increase in orders made by courts in divorce cases in England and Wales.  

Pension Sharing is where the court will order that the pension is divided between the spouses to in an effort to ensure allocation of adequate funds for each spouse upon separation.

There are a number of factors that could be contributing to this, one being that more couples are splitting up in their fifties and therefore the greatest source of wealth will be the main breadwinner's pension.
 
As the economic climate shows little prospect of recovery, house prices look set to continue to fall and investments fail to provide return it is becoming more difficult to offset assets against a substantial pension.  Where a cash settlement or property offset is no longer an option the only choice is to look to the pension as a means of distributing the assets fairly.  

This usually results in a re-think of retirement planning for the pension owner  with less pension available for them and often less than decade of working life to address the change of circumstances.

If you are facing separation and are concerned about protecting your pension please contact Valerie Gibson of our office.  Valerie deals with divorces, financial separations and is a fully trained Collaborative Lawyer providing a client led alternative to the court system.  

For more information on this topic or any aspect of divorce or separation you can contact Valerie Gibson for an initial free consultation as follows:

Telephone: 02890 231770
e-mail: v.gibson@rgsinclair.co.uk

Or by clicking on our contact us page here