03/06/2026
Pensions are often the biggest financial asset in a marriage, and the one couples understand the least when it comes to divorce.
Financial remedy applications hit a 15-year high last year, with nearly 50,000 couples turning to the courts to sort out the money side of separating. For many of them, the family home isn't actually what's most at stake - the pension is.
A few things we see come up time and again:
- The assumption that an ex will keep benefiting from a former partner's pension after divorce. Without a formal order, they almost certainly won't.
- Informal ""we've agreed it between ourselves"" arrangements that leave financial claims open for years.
- Confusion between pension sharing orders (a clean break) and the older attachment or earmarking orders (an ongoing financial tie).
No-fault divorce has made the process itself simpler, but it hasn't closed off financial claims. A properly drafted consent order, approved by the court, is still what gives both people certainty.
Our Head of Family Law, Ben Bradshaw, has written more on how pensions fit into a divorce settlement and where the common pitfalls are: https://bit.ly/4dSBKe5
