Is there an administration charge for pension sharing if I get divorced?

There are costs in making sure that a member’s record is correctly amended following a divorce where assets are allocated between the divorcing couple. These costs will need to be met by the divorcing couple themselves.

We will provide a list of the costs involved before a pension sharing order is made by the court when we issue a Divorce Cash Equivalent Transfer Value. The current cost to implement a pension sharing order (excluding the costs for any additional quotations required) is £2,200 plus VAT for the majority of cases, but this can rise to £3,000 plus VAT depending on the type of benefits you hold. If we need to ask our actuary to perform a calculation the cost will be higher.

The divorcing couple can pay the cost directly either by cheque or BACS. Alternatively, the fee can be deducted from the value of the benefits. Before we update the records following the instruction of the Pensions Sharing Order, we need confirmation from the member and their ex-spouse on how the charge is to be paid. If the payment is not being deducted from the benefits then we will need a payment to be made before we implement the Pension Sharing Order.