Step 3: Collecting Essential Information

Each party should get a forecast of their State Pension rights, as well as a valuation if needed.

If you are already receiving your State Pension, you must provide a statement showing the breakdown of benefits. Typically, this statement is issued annually in February or March for the upcoming tax year, but you can also contact the Pension Service for a current statement.

If you have not yet reached state pension age, you can request a State Pension forecast online via the Government Gateway at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension, or by completing and submitting a BR19 form to the Pension Service. Valuations, however, must be requested by submitting a BR20 form, as they cannot be obtained online.

If requested online, forecasts are generally available within 48 hours if you already have access to the Government Gateway. If you need to apply for access, it may take longer.

If applying via post, it typically takes between 8 to 12 weeks to receive the requested information.

At a minimum, you will need the following details for each pension arrangement:

• A valuation of accrued pension rights or benefits
• A statement outlining how the valuation was calculated
• A summary of the pension benefits included in the valuation
• Information on whether shadow membership will be offered to a spouse and details of the benefits involved
• Information on any default options available within the pension scheme
• A schedule of charges related to the divorce process, including for pension sharing or attachment orders

There are a few ways you can gather this information:

• You can write directly to the scheme administrator requesting the details.
• Send a Form P Pension Enquiry Form to the scheme administrator for completion.
• Provide authorisation to a third party, such as your solicitor or a service like MKC Professional Services, to gather the information on your behalf. This will allow further information to be requested based on the initial disclosure.

There are specific timelines for how quickly this information must be provided:

• If the request is made by the member or the Court and includes a request for a cash equivalent, the information must be provided within three months of the request, or within six weeks if court proceedings have started, or sooner if specified by the Court.
• If a member requests information without a cash equivalent valuation, it must be provided within one month.
• If the request comes from the spouse, the information must be provided within one month of receiving the request or Court Order. The spouse does not have the right to request the cash equivalent.

Due to current pressures on pension departments, obtaining this information can sometimes take 8 to 12 weeks, or even longer in some cases. It’s important to ensure the pension administrator knows the request is for divorce purposes, so the correct timescales apply.

Pension information should be current and issued within the last 12 months. Older benefit statements may not be adequate. If there have been significant changes in value, updated details may be required.

Basic pension information is usually provided free of charge if it is requested within a 12-month period. However, if the pension provider has already provided information within the last 12 months, they may charge a fee for additional requests. There is no set fee structure, but guidelines have been published by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

If you’ve lost track of your pension arrangements, there are two main ways to get help:

• For occupational pension schemes (employer-provided), use the Pension Tracing Service at www.findpensioncontacts.service.gov.uk.
• For personal pension schemes, check your old paperwork and contact your last known provider, as there is no central registry for these policies.

In addition to basic information, more detailed documentation is needed when a pension sharing order is requested. The Court requires confirmation that this information has been obtained, so it’s wise to gather these details early in the process.

The trustees or managers of the pension scheme must provide the following information to the member or Court within 21 days of being notified that a Pension Sharing Order is likely:

• Full name and address of the pension scheme for correspondence
• Whether the scheme is winding up, and if so, details of the trustees handling the process
• Any potential reductions in cash equivalent values due to scheme funding
• Whether the pension includes non-shareable rights
• Whether the Trustees / Managers require any charges to be paid in full or the proportion to be paid prior to the implementation of the order.
• Whether the Trustees / Managers can levy additional charges and if so the scale of the charges
• Whether the member is a trustee of the pension arrangement
• Whether the Trustees / Managers may request information about the members health from the member if a pension sharing order is to proceed
• Whether the Trustees / Manager will enable the former spouse to nominate a person to receive the pension credit benefit, including any lump sum, in the event of the former spouse before the pension sharing order is fully implemented.
• Any additional information required to process the order

After gathering all the necessary details about your pensions, you and your spouse will need to exchange the information. From there, you can decide whether a claim on each other’s pension rights is justified as part of the overall settlement. You may also need to raise additional questions or, depending on the pension values, commission a pension report.

It may be worth consulting a pensions expert, in coordination with your family lawyer, to help guide you through the process. A shadow pensions expert can assist in formulating a strategy for settlement, explaining the pensions report, and implementing a pension sharing order.