Pensions Posts

“The difference between divorce and legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money.” This is a quote from a celebrity. As my views on "celebrity divorces" are clear, I am not going to increase their "celebrity" by naming them! But they might have a point. Legal separation is simple, you just separate. There is no illegal separation as such. But most people would sensibly have a separation agreement to set out who pays what and....

Over my 25 years plus dealing with divorce, there are many reasons I have heard to get a divorce but only once did I hear tax as one of them! But if you separated in this tax year and are going through a divorce do bear in mind the Capital Gains Tax situation. Of course, the 2009/2010 tax year runs until 5th April 2010, but watch out as any married couples special tax treatments end when the tax year they separated ends. So if you separated in, say, May 2009 you need to sort out your CGT situati....

The Telegraph reports that there may well soon be a £100million divorce settlement. I don't know if the wife involved is sad or relieved about the actual breakup but, ignoring emotions for a moment, many ordinary people might think "not bad for 6 years of marriage". There are, though, some interesting issues in the case. They signed a prenuptial agreement before marriage which would have restricted the settlement. She does not propose to keep to it. It will be interesting to see....

Perhaps one of the most complicated aspects of many divorce settlements is the treatment of the pensions accrured by one of both parties.  With the pension pot often forming the second largest capital asset in most marriages there can be significant sums at stake. Our new book - Exploring the Myths about Divorce and Separation - tackles a number of the most common myths including the things like the proportion of a pension that each party is entitled to.  It's a myth for example that ....