Pensions, Policies and the Assets Couples Forget to Divide

Most people picture the home and the vehicles when they think about splitting up. But a fair division depends on counting everything of value, and some of the most valuable things are the easiest to forget. Leaving them out can quietly cost one spouse years of savings.

The law counts more than you think

Under section 7 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, a court divides the assets of the spouses, and it expressly includes the value of benefits such as a pension or gratuity that a spouse may lose on divorce. The net is far wider than the family home. See Dividing the Matrimonial Home.

What couples commonly forget

• Pensions and gratuities, including NSSA and employer or private pension funds.
• Life and funeral policies that have built up a cash value.
• Shares, unit trusts and other investments.
• A share in a business, even a small or informal one. See The Business You Built Together.
• Savings, foreign currency, and money owed to a spouse.
• Improvements built onto a property or a stand over the years.

Pensions are the classic blind spot

A pension is often a couple's second largest asset after the home, yet it is the one most often ignored. It cannot always be split directly, but its value can be balanced against other assets. For example, one spouse keeps the house while the other keeps a pension of similar value. See Keeping the House for the Children for how this trade can work.

Why it matters

A settlement that ignores these can look fair on the day and still leave one spouse far poorer for the rest of their life, usually the spouse who was not the main earner. Counting everything, honestly and in full, is what makes a division genuinely fair. See The Spouse Who Hid the Assets.