They say moving house and getting divorced are two of the most stressful times in a person’s life.  Even the most amicable of divorces can take longer than expected and the constant request for information back and forth can be draining.  A large majority of people just want an end to the whole process and for it to be over.

There are some very good divorce solicitors, but there are also some shockers.  Solicitors don't help themselves though, and what happens is you just feel like you are on your own.  So not only are you fighting your ex-spouse, you sometimes feel you are having a battle with your own solicitors.  The whole process can be so traumatic.

So, the very last thing that you then want, is to throw another element to the divorce which appears complicated and where a large part of the time your solicitors will not even understand. Along with, of course, increasing the reams of paper being sent to you, which you don’t understand as well. It’s easier just to ignore that element or decided to leave your ex-spouse with their pension and trade it off for something else. 

The trade-off normally is for a larger share of the matrimonial home or other assets.  However, the last time I looked most homes do not have a cash machine attached to them and having the property is one thing, but how is the running of it going to be paid for when your children have grown up (for those who have children) or when you stop work and retire? 

The Statics by the Wealth and Asset Survey in 2014 shows the average pension pot of a woman is £ 9,119 but a man’s is nearly two-thirds greater at £ 30,341.  This is a huge difference, it could be the difference at retirement, between being able to have a holiday, being able to change your car, being able to have spare cash if the washer breaks.  It is the difference in being able to have choices, options, independence!

More for the younger age group, pensions can seem so far away, something that you will deal with later, but the later creeps up on you very quickly. As the State Pension age begins to increase upwards, we could be heading for a retirement age of at least 68 but with talk of 70 becoming the norm. Do you still want to be working at age 70?

There are a large number of women that chose during their marriage to put their careers on hold when starting a family but there are just as many who have no choice. Due to the gender wage gap the majority of the time it is the man who has a higher salary, so the decision is normally made, for him to continue working and the woman to stop or to work part time, to bring up their children.  Although today, a contribution is made to their State Pension via the collection of Child Benefit, the ability to pay into a Private Pension is reduced and the majority of people don’t bother. This then has an impact on your long-term pension position, not alone is it the lack of contribution but also the compounded growth of the fund.

A further point is that, if you have a pension fund should anything happen to you this can be left to your family. This can be very important if your ex-spouse has not provided for protecting your family. 

So, if you are ever sat in front of a solicitor discussing financial settlements as part of your divorce think very long and hard about the years of lost pension contributions you could have had.