When it comes to a divorce, one of the biggest assets is often a pension. Since 1st December 2000, the court can grant a pension sharing order against either party giving shared rights to the pension through a legal arrangement.

But what is a Pension Sharing Order (PSO) and how can it affect you? Let’s take a look:

The Pension Sharing Order Process

If a marriage has come to an end and one partner is left without a pension entitlement, then a PSO distributes the assets that are held within an existing pension. Pension Sharing Orders allow a clean break between parties and make the need to start a new pension redundant.

As part of a divorce process, assets within a marriage are assessed and divided between the couple. Pension Sharing Orders mean that these assets also include the monetary value of any pensions – this allows for one party to get a percentage of the total value of the other person’s pension in the split.

Instead of earmarking this money for retirement, the pension is split using pension credit which can be transferred into an existing pension, a new pension or an extra pension in an existing scheme. More...

Divorce is a tricky business and it can be made even more complicated when a family business is involved. There are many ways that this situation can be sorted out, depending on a number of factors, but the most important thing to do is have the business properly valued.

How to Value a Business

Estimates are not good in this situation, so it is important that you have a fair valuation of your business. In order to accurately value a small business for divorce you need to take the approach that best matches your business model. There are three things you need to consider when valuing a small business, these are as follows:

1. Assets– if your business is asset heavy, then working out the cost of your buildings, machines, products, raw materials, etc., will help to create the core value of your business.

2. Cash flow – look at the forecast future of your expected revenues and costs to find a net profit (typically over 5 years) in order to achieve a terminal value. This figure should then take into account the riskiness of your business to bring in the predicted amount, thus giving your business a cash flow figure. More...

Prenuptial agreements are commonplace in the US and Europe, but while couples in the UK are able to set up this type of agreement before they marry, they’re not always recognised in court.

So what is a prenuptial agreement? And what is its legal status in the UK? Howells Solicitors examines this much debated issue, to give you the overview you need to make an informed decision before you get married.

What is a prenuptial agreement?

A prenuptial agreement is an agreement entered into by a couple who plan on getting married that details what would happen to their financial matters in the event of their divorce. They are used as a means of protecting wealth should a marriage go wrong, particularly in cases where one partner brings more in the way of assets to the marriage than the other.

Prenuptial agreements have only recently entered UK law, following a four year legal battle involving a German heiress, Karin Radmacher, worth £100million, and her ex-husband, academic Nicholas Granatino. In 2010, at the end of their divorce case, the court ruled in favour of Miss Radmacher protecting her fortune according to the prenuptial agreement signed by Granatino before their marriage. More...

It’s been nearly two years since we last wrote about the rise of the Facebook divorce, and how evidence of couples’ extra-marital exploits was finding its way onto social media and then subsequently into divorce proceedings.

Since that time, social media usage has continued to flourish, with more than 2 billion active social media accounts in existence globally. Also, in the past few weeks, a notorious dating website that enables extra-marital affairs has been hacked, with attackers threatening to expose the identities of the 37.5m adulterers who have used the site.

For this reason, we thought the time was right to revisit the idea of the ‘Facebook Divorce’, and investigate the effect that the rise of social media is having on divorce proceedings in the UK.

New statistics

A recent survey from Censuswide of more than 2000 respondents found that one in seven married individuals has considered divorce because of their spouse’s posting on Facebook or other social media sites. More...

Divorce can be confusing enough without having to decipher all of the legal jargon involved. To help you get to grips with divorce terminology we’ve put together an A-Z guide that explains things in plain English.

Access – See Child Arrangements Order

Acknowledgement of Service – If your husband or wife has started divorce proceedings against you, you will be sent an Acknowledgement of Service form. This needs to be filled in to say you either agree or disagree with the divorce and returned to the court within 8 days. If you don’t send this form back within 21 days, your husband or wife can continue with the divorce as if you’d agreed to it.

Affidavit – An affidavit is a formal declaration that the contents of a particular statement (for example a divorce petition) are true. It is a written statement which is sworn under oath by the person making it.

Cafcass Officer – Cafcass stands for Children and Family Court Advisory Service. A Cafcass officer (also known as a family court advisor) is a specialist social worker whose role is to help you agree arrangements for your child, carry our safeguarding enquiries and, if requested by the judge, to write a detailed report about your child’s needs and wishes. For more information please see our recent blog post. More...