Welcome
This blog is intended to encourage an exchange of ideas and promote debate about the financial issues that arise in a relationship breakdown. The concept is to create a platform for discussion that is not available elsewhere. Aimed mainly at professionals working in this area; lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and actuaries, it is also a potential source of information for the general public.
In our experience there is a significant variance in how professionals handle pension assets in divorce, with little consensus on which methods give the best outcome. We feel this is due in part to a lack of centralised knowledge and debate on what can be a complex issue. We intend to address this by posting our original articles on key subjects, as well as those contributed by others. Our intention is to post quality, discussion-worthy topics at least once a month, or more often if the need arises.
We encourage comments and contributions from all. Comments can be added to the articles on-line, if you would like to submit an article please email us at ancillaryactuary@bradshawdixonmoore.com.
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Entries in Other blogs (1)
Public Sector (Pension) Transfer Club
There is a very interesting article on the blog of Kent solicitors Kaslers Solicitors LLP. By understanding the public sector transfer club (PSTC) rules, this firm has leveraged £36k of pension asset value for their client.
If you have not come across the PSTC before, you might be surprised by just how attractive its benefits are. It is a reciprocal arrangement among final salary schemes that offers employees who move between the relevant employers the opportunity to transfer their accrued pension benefits on special terms. What this amounts to is that when such employees transfer their pension benefits within the PSTC they receive a broadly equivalent service credit in the new scheme. As the Kaslers’ case illustrates the employments do not even have to be consecutive.
Although the PSTC benefits are considerable, the opportunity to use the transfer Club rules strategically in a in divorce or dissolution will not crop up too often because time and age limits apply to Club transfers. The Civil Service Pensions Division administers the arrangements for the Club and more information, including the rules and a list of member schemes is available on its web site.
We were not involved in the Kaslers’ case but we do come across cases where Club transfers have occurred. One recent example was a police constable working in England who had served for a few years in Scotland before moving south. By making a Club transfer, he received credit for his early service in Scotland. Because of the way early retirement rules work in the police pension scheme due to making the Club transfer he had the option to retire earlier than would have otherwise been the case. This in turn had a positive impact on the value of his pension.
Peter J Moore – Director, Bradshaw, Dixon & Moore Ltd
© Bradshaw Dixon & Moore Ltd - Dec 2007
The Ancillary Actuary
in Other blogs, Pension Transfers
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