Posted November 20th, 2012
…..and that figure is unnervingly low. There are nearly twice as many women over 50 without a pension when compared with men over 50.
It seems clear then, that many women are not even asking the question upon agreeing a divorce settlement. It is more important now than ever before that the question of sufficiency in retirement is tabled during in settlement talks. It is just as relevant as child care and the split of matrimonial assets.
It’s pretty straight forward. If you have sacrificed a career to raise children, or even settled in a job just to help make ends meet within the marriage, there is a fair question of income equalisation after retirement that needs to be asked and answered.
I am an IFA with expertise in the field of Pensions on Divorce. If you are going through a divorce and need advice, or if the issue has never been raised for you and you feel that this is something that you would like to talk about then please get in touch:
01204 663904
Image credit: flickr.com/tax credits
Tags: Advice, Cash Equivalent Transfer Value, Divorce, external transfer, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Settlement, Pension, Pension Credit, Pension Scheme, Pension Sharing, pension sharing order, Pension Sharing Orders, Pensions & divorce, Pensions and Divorce, Personal Pension, Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Adviser, Settlement | Posted in Divorce, Pension Credit, Pension Sharing Order, Pensions & divorce |
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Posted August 27th, 2012
Question : Why is it that a pension share can be applied to a pension in the pension protection fund but not to one in the
financial assistance scheme.
Answer : Unfortunately despite lobbying by Resolution, the financial assistance scheme remains unable to deal with compensation pension sharing orders, unlike the pension protection fund.
Therefore, if you are affected by a scheme in this situation you will be unable to use it for the purposes of pension sharing.
It will be essential therefore to look at how to divide your pensions via a different method.
Tags: assistance, Divorce, Financial, Financial Planning, Fund, Pension, Pension Sharing, pension sharing order, Protection, Resolution, Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Adviser, Scheme, Settlement, Share | Posted in Divorce, Pension Sharing Orde, Pension Sharing Order, Pensions & divorce |
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Posted August 15th, 2012
I am pleased to confirm that I have been re-accredited for a further five years, having recently completed the process via Resolution.
In order to qualify for re-accreditation I had to show that:
- I am a paid up affiliate member of Resolution.
- I am currently regulated by the FSA to provide Independent Financial Advice
- There are no matters affecting my competence or fitness to be held out as an accredited specialist of which Resolution should be aware.
- I have never been convicted of an offence in any court of the UK or elsewhere (other than a motoring offence not resulting in
disqualification).
- I continue to undertake a minimum of 36 cases per annum, or 150 hours family law case work each year and provide evidence of this for the preceding 12 months.
- Confirm that Resolution may approach a designated person for a reference in relation to the standard of my expertise.
I also had to provide the following documentary evidence:
- A schedule of case work for the 12 month period prior to my re-accreditation, demonstrating the 36 cases or 150 hours per annum
minimum casework required, and the name of the solicitor or mediator with whom I worked, or from whom the case was referred.
- A written reference from a referring family lawyer confirming the work carried out during the preceding 12 months, and that
the work was satisfactory.
- Details of my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) record for the preceding 5 years showing at least 8 hours of CPD in family law and practice topics for each year.
- The fee required by Resolution.
As you can see there is quite a lot involved in getting Reaccredited and we are serious about helping our clients get the best settlements possible. Don’t you owe to yourself to make sure the IFA you work with is this qualified.
If you want to talk please call 0800 092 1229 or email me – phil@white-well.co.uk
Tags: Advice, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Settlement, FSA, IFA, re - accreditation, Resolution, Resolution Accredited, Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Adviser | Posted in Uncategorized |
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Posted March 16th, 2012
An increasing number of people are contacting us regarding how to implement pre-nuptial and post nuptial financial planning. Against the context of high profile pre-nuptial cases, it should be always borne in mind that the family courts have extremely wide powers to distribute the finances and assets of divorcing couples as they see fit.
However, it is often the case that couples, or individuals, wish to attempt to exclude the courts powers and to protect and distribute their estates as they see fit.
Often such planning is undertaken in the context of the succession planning of assets or businesses, and not only is thought being given to what might happen on the breakdown of a marriage, but
also to the issues which may occur upon death.
It should be noted that any pre-nuptial agreement should be undertaken in relation to will planning, as any will you have drawn up becomes invalid upon marriage, or re-marriage.
Therefore in any situation such as this it is important to consider not only what the courts may do in the situation of divorce, but also on death. It is certainly true to say that courts are taking more note of post and pre-nuptial agreements, and I can only see that these will become more and more of a planning opportunity for families going forward.
If this is an issue that affects you please call in confidence on 0800 0921229 or email me at phil@thedivorceifa.co.uk
Tags: Divorce, Financial Planning, Post Nuptial, Pre Nuptial | Posted in Pre and Post Nuptials, Uncategorized |
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Posted March 9th, 2012
Where businesses are involved in divorce there are a raft of considerations which need to be thought through carefully before a financial settlement is concluded. However with the right type of pre-planning and thought reasonable settlements can be made, and time and resources used to rebuild assets into the future.
The first consideration should be to taxation and it should be noted that for the purposes of Capital Gains Tax it is the date of separation that is generally more relevant than anything happens within the divorce itself
The key here is that where a transfer is made in the same tax year as the separation there will be no taxable capital gains or losses for that matter, for the transferor. When considering the asset position of the business or partnership it is important to check ownership particularly in relation to shares or the individual asset in relation to a partnership.
Possible solutions may involve the purchase of shares or the sale of property to enable the financial settlement to be concluded.
Care needs to be taken where pensions hold assets of the business. Often we see shares and properties occupied by the business held and owned by the pension scheme.
Therefore further thought needs to be taken on how these assets are dealt with.
This is an extremely complicated area of financial settlements on divorce and it is essential that you get the right team around you to assist your negotiations. In my opinion, this would be a family lawyer, accountant and independent financial adviser.
If this is an issue that affects you please call in confidence on 0800 0921229 or email me at phil@thedivorceifa.co.uk
Tags: Business, Capital Gains Tax, Divorce, Financial Planning, Financial Settlement, Independent Financial Adviser | Posted in Business |
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Posted May 12th, 2011
I am pleased to announce the availability of a financial planning tool for Divorce.
For the first time I have access to a divorce financial planning tool which will enable my clients to see how different settlements will affect them before agreeing to settle. For example, it is able to show the financial consequences of offsetting versus pension sharing or attachment. It can handle maintenance situations or map what happens if one party keeps the marital home and the other the income. Each scenario can be plotted against the other to show which is the most optimum and guidance can be given on the consequences.
I am not aware of any other such planning tool available in the UK and I believe it has particular relevance to Collaborative Law. You can view a dashboard screenshot of the software here which frankly does not do it justice but it gives a decent indication of how visually the software looks.
Effectively, what you are seeing is the two clients’ capital and income positions side by side and as any change is made (e.g. an increase in capital shared to one party) the visual picture changes showing how each client is affected.
It is a superb aid to informed negotiation and agreement.
If this is something you are interested in, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01204 663904 or email phil@thedivorceifa.co.uk
Tags: Collaborative Law, Divorce, Divorce Financial Planning, Divorce Financial Planning Tool, Financial Planning | Posted in Financial Planning |
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Posted January 17th, 2011
You can now search the Resolution public website for all the qualified Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) to assist you with issues such as:
- Pension Sharing
- Pension Offsetting
- Pension Attachment
- Budgeting
- Life Assurance needs
- Financial Planning
The search tool can be found here -
If you would like more information about how we advise our clients on the financial aspects of divorce, please contact us on 0800 092 1229 or email phil@thedivorceifa.co.uk
Tags: Budgeting, Financial Planning, IFA, Independent Financial Advisers, Life Assurance, Pension Attachment, Pension offsetting, Pension Sharing, Resolution, Resolution Accredited, Resolution Accredited IFA, Resolution Accredited Independent Financial Adviser | Posted in Resolution Accreditation |
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Posted February 8th, 2010
In many occupational schemes (especially the statutory ones – e.g. Police, Armed Forces) there has been a disparity between the normal retirement age of the member and that given to a pension credit member (the ex spouse). For example, the member can retire from the pension scheme at age 52 but the ex spouse cannot retire until age 60.
In addition, where the pension is in payment, there will be an immediate reduction of benefit for the member but the ex spouse’s pension will not kick in until age 60 (which could be many years away).
This issue has been neatly termed as “income gap syndrome” and it has been found not to go against the anti discrimination provisions of European Law.
Of course, this assumes that the ex spouse decides upon an internal transfer as the means to facilitate the pension share. There may be many reasons why the other option (an external transfer) is appropriate, but there will many situations where the only choice available is an internal transfer.
Regulations which came into force in April 2009 made provision for a partial solution to this issue which some of the statutory schemes are now starting to implement. The NHS scheme will now permit pension credit members to draw benefits after age 50 (or 55 from 6 April 2010) whilst an Armed Forces (2005) pension credit member can draw benefits at age 55. It should be noted that actuarial reductions will apply for early payment.
From a financial planning point of view it is wise to review the drawing of a pension credit benefit in line with your overall goals and objectives to ensure that any reduction is understood and budgeted for.
For more information on this please contact me on 0800 092 1229 or contact me by email, phil@thedivorceifa.co.uk
Tags: Actuarial Reductions, Armed Forces, Divorce, Early Payment, Ex Spouse, Financial Planning, Income Gap Syndrome, internal transfer, NHS Scheme, Normal Retirement Age, Occupational Scheme, Pension Credit, Pension Credit Member, Pension Scheme, pension share, Police, Spouse, Statutory Scheme | Posted in Pension Credit |
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