Pension Sharing Advice from the Man in the Pub
I am often approached by clients with unrealistic expectations about their divorce settlement. There is so much information available on the internet that often people think they can run their own case. Or they are being guided by a friend or colleague with the t-shirt. Battled scared and quoting from their experience of one. Often a deadly combination.
I am often quoted case law as if this is going to be a magic bullet in their divorce and provide the key or answer. It rarely does.
There has been a huge surge in litigants in person trying to battle there way through the legal maze without representation. It is a dangerous approach as I am often contacted far too late to sort easily preventable problems.
There are some notable sites trying to assist people such as Wikivorce and The Divorce Magazine but as ever when things are free you have to be very careful about what you take as being right or not in your situation. Consider who is giving the information and often what agenda are they working to.
Pension Sharing Advice – Costs
On many occasions the reason that advice and guidance is not being sort is put down to the costs involved.
Yes,there are costs. But as seen in my previous blog on Pension Sharing After Death the unforeseen costs can be huge.
Take care when being advised by the man in the pub
Pension Sharing Advice on the Cheap
This week I heard about another situation where the pension sharing advice was being done on the cheap.
For an actuary to undertake a proper pension sharing report the costs are on average c.£1,000 plus VAT. This can often seem an unnecessary cost for a client and a difficult sell for a divorce solicitor to a reluctant client.
What can often happen to cut costs is that a financial adviser is brought in to give a “steer” on what might be needed to equalise the pensions or offer comment on how the pensions should be shared.
In the case I heard about this week there was no instruction letter used and the financial adviser had confidently predicted 40% “would get it done”
This is worrying. Scrimping on costs can be a very bad idea and getting advice from the man in the pub could be a recipe for disaster.
