General Chat

I was in a system that no longer exists. Married women could opt out of NI, apart from 4p a week, and rely on the husband's pension. When it was abolished and women were recognised as not "belonging" to their husbands, those of us in the scheme could stay in it if we wished. Under the scheme I was not eligible for sick pay, maternity pay or unemployment benefit. As I worked for the Civil Service, I could have 6 months off sick on full pay, I was past the age for maternity, and unlikely to be unemployed I didn't see the point of paying full contributions. The downside was that women retired at 60 but men not until 65, and I wasn't entitled to a state pension until OH retired.

Under the current regulations I get 1/3 of his pension and he has 2/3, but we both have occupational pensions and manage OK.

Same names, so whilst I was raising my children, my NI was paid under HR.

They call us "mature" mums up here as I was 33 with my first and 35 with my 2nd.

I was lucky that I was a bit of an ‘older mum’ as I had my first just after the ‘home responsibilities’ came into being.

I just checked and I have 46 years of full contributions. I will get my state pension 4 Dec 2028

Another issue, with the new state pension, you need 35 years of contributions to get the full amount.

But if, like me, in the years before 2016 you were 'opted out' of full national insurance contributions because you were paying into a work pension for instance, the 35 years I had worked was not enough, and I had to pay another six years worth of contributions to make up the shortfall.

It might be worth checking your state pension forecast to make sure there are no unpleasant surprises.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

This might explain the contracted out issue better than I have

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-9176435/How-state-pension-affected-contracted-out.html

When I applied for my pension, I was asked for details, name, birthdate, of ex spouse. May have been asked for date of divorce, can't remember, but definitely was not asked for evidence of decree absolute, nor did I provide it.

I was claiming entirely on my record of contributions, not his, maybe that's why? I live in England.

Thanks Annx for all the info, was very interesting to know the rules.

When my children were young, of course claiming child benefit gives you home responsibilities and so you get you NI paid until they leave school. I had already worked 15 years when I married and have now been here 30 years.I returned to work in 2006 once my daughter was well enough to go to school full time.

Yes best to check the rules regularly as they do change.

Thanks

Sorry to be so late replying to your question Florence. Certainly when I worked there and unless rules have changed since, a woman's decree absolute would need to be seen (with her marriage certificate if not seen before) as evidence of her period of marriage. This needed to be confirmed with evidence, because if a woman had gaps in her own NI record during the marriage, the deficient years for her state pension could be substituted with her ex husbands NI record for any of the years of the marriage where his NI record was better than hers to give her a bigger state pension. I hope this adds a bit more to the point Namelessone made about it. I see you already have a full NI record so it doesn't seem as if you would gain any benefit from this!

Something to think about for anyone it would help though, just in respect of the state pension again! If you consider remarriage, it used to be that if you remarried after claiming and receiving your improved state pension as a divorced woman, you would still keep that pension amount after your remarriage. However, if you remarried before you were pension age, your ex husband's NI record would be ignored and your state pension would be just based either on your own NI contributions or you'd get a housewife's pension on your new husband's if that was more. Always check the latest rules though as things change so fast these days.

Divorced women who know or think they have gaps in their NI record should always get a pension forecast, as this will tell you what your position is now and include any enhancement if it applies.

Yes, maybe years ago but with more women working and running a home, more women do now have their own pensions compared to when my mother was married.

She only had small part time jobs as had children to care for.

Anyway, I'm happier now, money isn't everything but it helps!

A difficult one as it is usually the other way round, with the man with all the pensions.

Oh well, I have just tel my lawyer and was told to keep everything forever!!!
All joint bank acc stmts, all docs relating to the house we jointly owned, plus all divorce documents.

I thought he may of said 6 years but forever, wasn't expecting that!

Afternoon all

The reason my divorce took nearly 5 years was because I was fighting to keep my pensions and not have to give him half of them. He had no pensions at all and in Scotland the law says:

When you divorce everything goes in the one pot and is shared equally even if one partner has nothing. My sol fought tooth and nail for me as my bank pension I had long before I got married.

So this is what happened.

Say house is worth £100,000 and you still have 30k mortgage.

So reduce the value to 70k and split 35k each.

Wife has 2 works pensions worth 50k. Split 25k each.

The 25k is reduced of wifes share of the house and she gets 5k.

He gets to keep the house.

Totally unfair but that's the Scottish law.

So everything was covered very thoroughly but for working hard for my future, i actually ended up the loser!

I have more than 35 years of NI contributions so I shall get the full state pension.

I see and understand about the DWP now although, maybe I may just meet and remarry before im 67...never say never lol

So after I got divorced, a friend of mine decided to stick with her awful husband as like my ex, he has no pension etc and she has several and she does not want to end up with nothing like me.

Anyway re the statements, i shall ring the lawyer on Monday and see what he says just to be clear.

Florence in the hebrides

In Scotland, pension rights on divorce are very complicated. I have just done a bit of googling and I hope, Florence, that you had them included in your divorce settlement.

Re DWP, they want to see the extract decree to prove you are telling the truth about being divorced!!

It is definitely worth looking in to. Your rights to any of his private pension should really have been included in the divorce but may not have been.
If you are not going to get the full state pension you may be able to boost it with some of his payments.

It is definitely worth looking in to. Your rights to any of his private pension should really have been included in the divorce but may not have been.
If you are not going to get the full state pension you may be able to boost it with some of his payments.

You'd be best to ask your solicitor.

Whether or not you're entitled to a share of your ex's pension rights (or he to yours) may depend on what was agreed during the divorce.

Rules may differ depending on whether your divorce was in Scotland or England.

Oh thanks Annx, didn't know that. I shall be 62 in Dec. I wouldn't destroy that tbh, was all the home loan statements, mortgage accounts etc plus joint account stmnts.

I am in receipt of my work pensions as I retired early due to ill health.

Out of interest, why would the DWP want to see the decree Absolute?

I've no idea of your age Florence, but if you haven't reached pension age you will need your decree absolute when you retire unless DWP have already seen and recorded it.

ArgyllGran, i claimed PPI and yes having my own statements actually helped a lot with the claim for which I received several hundred pounds.

I think part of me is just wanting to remove a certain part of my life that no longer exists!

I have my own bank statements from when i was working for Nat west from 1979-1993
but just not sure when it comes to divorce papers etc

Names, yes that crossed my mind too re my mum etc. You just never know if something might crop up do you.

Think id better keep them for 6 years at least.

I was simply trying to declutter a bit!

I may still ring the lawyer though on Monday and see what he says to be sure.

If I had another spare hall cupboard with shelves, it wouldn't be a problem but we are short on space in this house.

Thanks for your suggestions