Retirement funds raided in divorce

With cash in short supply and house values tumbling, many couples are having to carve up their retirement funds when they divorce.

The biggest asset in many households, retirement funds are increasingly having to be raided when couples part ways. 

The Daily Telegraph reports that in total, more than one in 10 financial settlements ordered by judges after spouses split up now includes an arrangement to divide their main earner’s pension pot, a decade after the orders were introduced.

According to the newspaper, legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell says there was an 11 per cent rise in the number of pension-sharing orders made by courts in the past year alone.

Many couples are divorcing in their fifties, and splitting their biggest asset means many spouses will have less money to survive on in old age.

Our Family and Matrimonial team helps families across West London and Bucks. For advice, contact a member of the team, call us on 01494 790007 or email enquiries@ibblaw.co.uk.