19
Mar 2014
Pension Sharing Orders are underused claims report
Pension Sharing Orders, first introduced in England and Wales in 2000 have been the subject of a review for the first time.
Family Law Week reports that the study by Hilary Woodward from Cardiff Law School has explored when and how the issue of pensions is included in Financial Remedy Orders in the Family Courts.
Pension Sharing Orders allow a proportion of one party’s pension to be transferred to the other in a separate pension fund. The orders can be extremely useful where one party’s pension provision far outweighs the other’s thus providing security for the future.
The outcomes of the study suggest that whilst Pension Sharing Orders are extremely useful, the fact is that they simply are not used as much as was anticipated. It remains the case that in the majority of financial settlements, parties choose or are ordered to offset pension assets with other assets such as capital in a savings account or property.
Remarkably, the findings suggest that in 20% of cases neither party disclosed any pension assets other than the basic state pension and in all but two of the cases where a Pension Sharing Order was used, the Order was in favour of the wife. As expected however, the findings show that Pension Sharing Orders are more common in longer marriages where pension assets would be of greater significance and the orders are more likely to be made where both parties are legally represented.
Here at Chadwick Lawrence we have one of the most experienced Family Law Teams in the region, headed by Partner Catherine Dews. If you require advice about any Family Law matter including advice on divorce and financial settlements, please contact us on 0800 387 747.
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