Friday July 30, 2010 at 9:22pm
OK, you have the pension CETV and are persuaded it is the appropriate valuation to use. Like my last Blog on CETVs, this article is mainly for lawyers from other firms who do not specialise in family law and who need some basic guidance on this complex area. If you are not a lawyer, this article on pensions and divorce is likely to be more helpful. The next step is to consider what % of the pension rights should go to whom. It is not an easy question! I suppose it might be assumed that the obvio....
Monday July 26, 2010 at 7:58pm
Obviously, in a divorce case where the pension is seen as relevant (and, to my mind, that is almost always) a valuation would be needed. But then there is a need to properly understand the valuation!
I pause at this point to say that this article is mainly for lawyers from other firms who do not specialise in family law and who need guidance on this complex area. If you are not a lawyer, this article on pensions and divorce is likely to be more helpful. Of course, the prescribed ....
Friday July 23, 2010 at 10:02pm
Divorce can be very taxing Surprisingly to many people, there are actually quite a few tax implications of the ending of a marriage or civil partnership. Many are also surprised to hear that, for income tax purposes, the relevant tax year of change is the year in which the people separated and not when the actual divorce went through. A ”snapshot” of some of the issues would include:
Any tax credits sorted out during the marriage or civil partnership need to be reassessed ....
Tuesday June 29, 2010 at 4:28pm
HELP! Please. Our
family solicitors are constantly frustrated by misunderstanding and misinformation – much of it I have to say fed by American TV and films and the British media. If I had a pound for every time someone as contacted my firm believing one of these three most common myths I’d be a rich man. Myth 1 -
Getting a divorce means going to Court. No it doesn’t. Getting a divorce is a very simple process. You have to file papers at Court certainly – but this can be ....
Monday June 7, 2010 at 9:26am
As a couple gets older, they might reasonably expect life to slow down slightly and to spend time enjoying each others company. The kids have grown up and moved out so the house might seem a little big and empty but the resulting improvement in disposable income and quality of life more than compensates for many couples. Not everyone though. For some, the kids might have been the glue that kept them together. Or the job that goes when one or the other retires might leave a void. Or the (ve....
Monday March 22, 2010 at 9:29am
We all hear, it seems daily, about yet another "celebrity divorce" or the make believe "quickie divorce" they often claim to obtain. We hear about the agonising over whether the settlement should be £200million or £300million. What a hard life and tough case that must be! Let's have a look at a more normal case, we'll call them John and Sarah and make them Mr & Mrs Middle England, perhaps our typical client. It is Sarah who comes in to see us. John (we are tol....
Friday February 5, 2010 at 5:17pm
“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....
Friday February 5, 2010 at 9:42am
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....
Friday January 22, 2010 at 9:50am
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....
Wednesday October 7, 2009 at 11:27am
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 ....