Hi Margaret. This is something we deal with all of the time. The simple answer is generally yes, you may well be entitled to some of his pension but your share and should you take it will depend on the financial settlement you make as part of your divorce. In a divorce situation all assets are taken into account when reaching a financial settlement. Any pensions are treated as an asset and the first job is to get the pensions valued. If it’s a straight forward personal pension or money purchase pension then there will be a simple valuation of the fund.

If the pension is ‘based on earnings’ like you get as a teacher, nurse, doctor, local government worker or similar then there will be a Cash Equivalent transfer value. This is a calculation of the cash value of the preserved pension benefits. If the settlement you agree with your spouse includes pensions, remember you may want other assets like the house or savings or whatever depending on your circumstances, you will need to get a Pension Sharing Order via the Courts. Once this is in place you need to get specialist pension advice because in most instances the share of pensions you get will need to be moved to a new pension in your own name. If you are at this stage or when you get to that stage or if you just want advice if you give us a call at Pensionlite we will complete a free independent no obligation review and recommendations for you.

We have just completed a rather messy long running pensions and divorce case and because of our involvement with the lady concerned and her solicitor, she managed to get a little over £50,000 more in benefits.

There are some very good cheap and straight forward On Line Divorce providers but my recommendation, from experience, where children are involved or high asset values are to be split up is to get a good solicitor.