Pension Sharing Order Rising 11% In Divorcing Couples
Sweet & Maxwell the Legal Publisher has reported that there has been an 11% rise in the number of Pension Sharing Orders made by the Courts in the past year.
Possibly because more older couples divorce, pension funds are frequently the biggest source of wealth to be divided and the average age at divorce has risen by almost seven years in recent decades to reach 44.2 years old for men and 41.7 years for women.
Also due to the recession the former matrimonial home can be difficult to sell and interests in businesses are often difficult to realise, so there is less liquid cash available for settlement.
Financial settlement decided in Courts following divorce rose by 3% in 2010 to reach 82,290 and of those cases 10,205 involved Pension Sharing Orders, an increase from 9,218 in 2009.
There was a 5% rise in Property Adjustment Orders in which property and other non-cash assets are transferred from one partner to another, but by contrast, the number of Orders relating to lump sum payments rose by just 1%.
Understandably, when a Pension Sharing Order is made against one party, this has a drastic effect upon the value of their Pension Fund and the ultimate Pension that they will receive when they come to retire.