If a divorce is looking imminent then most people will worry about their children, the house and maintenance payments. However, in many cases the pension of one spouse will also be split with the other and for many people their pension is one of their biggest assets.
If one person has gone out to work while the other has stayed at home to raise the children and to support the working spouse, or if one person has worked shorter hours in order to spend more time with the children then the working spouse will have a far bigger pension pot than the stay-at-home spouse.
As it is deemed that the stay-at-home spouse has offered a supporting role to the working spouse in many cases the stay-at-home spouse will be awarded a portion of the working spouse’s pension to compensate for their lack of pension while they were raising the family.
When this idea was first introduced there were several problems with it, such as if the working spouse didn’t retire until a much later age, or if the working spouse passed away. Both would result in the stay-at-home spouse receiving nothing.
Therefore the laws changed so that the pension of the working spouse can be split into two entities, one for the ex-spouse, the other for the working spouse. Therefore the ex-spouse has a protected pension fund, no matter what the situation.
If you are concerned about what will happen to your pension when you divorce, or feel that you should be entitled to some of your partner’s pension then contact Grant Stephens, expert divorce lawyers in Cardiff for advice.