What are the options with pensions?
Over the past 20 years, pensions are becoming an increasingly important part of financial settlement. Both statute and case law have developed substantially since the late 1980s. Pensions are likely to be a significant issue if the marriage is long and/if there are children of the relationship. Pensions will be less important if the marriage is short, there are no children and/or the parties are relatively young. It is important for clients to bear in mind that they should obtain independent financial advice concerning their retirement provision irrespective of the advice given by us in relation to the issue within divorce. On divorce the Courts can make the following orders in relation to pensions: • A pension sharing order. This is, as it suggests, an order sharing an existing pension. The percentage share can be anything between 0% and 100% (so 50/50, 80/20 etc) and will create a new pension fund for the recipient. In some cases, the recipient will be required to keep their pension
