Financial Planning on Divorce and Separation Conference 2019
On 6 June 2019 I had the pleasure of speaking at the inaugural Financial Planning on Divorce and Separation Conference in Birmingham, organised by Resolution. Here is yours truly talking about the “the good, the bad and the ugly of being a divorce financial planner.” It was a great event attended by over 70 financial […]
Odd Pension Values
I spotted an interesting pension ombudsman case last week which is worthy of note. If you are interested you can read the full article here The numbers here are quite small but the lesson here is that with a SIPP/SSAS other stuff can be going on that serves to misrepresent the true asset value of these […]
Deficits, underfunded CETVs and the internal transfer
If you have got this far – thank you. I think this may well be the most underwhelming subject line I have ever written, but hopefully the content will be of use to you. Many defined benefit schemes are underfunded. The total deficit value of all final salary schemes is difficult to agree but most […]
Capital Value losses and gains on Pension Sharing
How can anyone consider pension sharing a defined benefit/salary related pension without knowing something about capital values? In this context I mean independent capital values or fair values calculated by an actuary. Cash Equivalent Transfer Values are NOT intended to be fair values and are often anything but. So called replacement values are a crude […]
Pension Sharing – 10 years of bedlam
I’ve been an IFA for twelve years and for the last ten I have been implementing pension sharing orders. It hasn’t been dull. From the lady in 2012 who reached down into the bottom drawer of her bureau to pass me a “ready to go” but unimplemented annex dated from 2004, questioning whether it was […]
Maybe this isn’t dyed in the wool?
You may not be familiar with the Martin-Dye v Martin-Dye case but it has been a very important one in relation to pensions on divorce. In the closing statement of that case Lord Justice Thorp said, “Pensions in payment, being different in kind to other available assets, should have been apportioned by means of a […]
My 4 Step Thought Process For Your Divorce
This is the basic process I use when looking at pensions in divorce cases and I thought I would share it with you. It breaks down as follows: 1. Identify When I am asked to get involved in a financial settlement whether it is by a solicitor or directly instructed via the internet the first task […]
This man cut his car in HALF in his divorce!
Getting a divorce is no picnic, but having to separate all of the devices, furniture and vehicles you and your spouse shared can add a dimension of stress to the ordeal. Well, the good news is, if you’ve got a dark sense of humor and a saw; you can just cut it all in half…that, […]
A glass shoe in cases pension offsetting
A glass shoe? There was a paper that was presented at the FLBA (Family Law Bar Association) Conference in Cardiff on October 21st 2015 which addressed the ‘Cinderella’ of financial remedies on divorce. This is the offsetting of pensions against non-pension assets. Now you understand why I used ‘a glass shoe’ as a reference. Who […]
Public sector schemes to NOT allow transfers to QROPS!
Simply put, legislation has been published to close a loophole which enabled public sector workers transferring their pensions overseas. The Unfunded Public Service Defined Benefits Schemes (Transfers) Regulations 2015 have now been published. A loophole had been discovered which allowed unfunded public sector pension members to transfer their pension funds to an overseas pensions and […]
