How do you get a valuation of your pension for divorce purposes?
When sorting out your finances on divorce one of the first things you will need to do is to get an idea of an up-to-date value of each of your assets. This includes your pensions. Often people have several different pensions, and they don’t know how much they are worth.
So, requesting the right type of valuation of each pension at an early stage is crucial.
How do you get a valuation of your pension?
The best place to start is probably the annual statement that you will be sent by the pension company or organisation each year. This should include all the details about the pension including the pension company (which may have changed over time), the policy number and probably a transfer value.
While helpful, the transfer value in an annual statement is not the sort of calculation needed for divorce purposes. To ensure that the valuations of all pensions being considered on divorce have been done on the same basis, there is a specific type of calculation called a Cash Equivalent Value or CEV that you need to obtain.
To ask for a CEV of a defined contribution scheme, you will need to ring the pension provider, give them your details and the policy number and ask for a Cash Equivalent Value for divorce purposes. Usually this will then be sent to you (probably by post) with the CEV and lots of other relevant information about your pension.
What if you have a public sector defined benefit scheme?
If you have a public sector defined benefits scheme, for example, with the NHS, Police Service or Armed Forces Pension scheme, then you will need to do the same thing.
One thing to note however – it can take several months for a defined benefit scheme provider to send you the CEV. This is because of the complexity of producing a CEV for such schemes, exacerbated by the judgement in a case called McCloud which has lead to the general revaluation of many public sector defined contribution schemes.
All in all, if you are separating and know that the value of your pensions will be one of the things you need to take in to account when considering your finances, it is best to request up – to -date CEVs as soon as possible.
Our team of family lawyers include specialists on pensions on divorce. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you, speak to our team.
Resources:
Explaining family law podcast – Dealing with pensions on divorce
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