Pension change "could benefit the divorced"

Changes to pension legislation in the UK and Northern Ireland could benefit millions of people who are divorced, according to a report.

It might be of interest to solicitors to learn that as of April next year, current restrictions on people who get part of their ex-husband or wife's pension benefits will be scrapped, it has been reported on This Is Money.

Currently the part of the pension that the ex-partner receives can't be taken until they are aged 60 or over and also cannot be given as a tax free lump sum.

The pension member can receive the benefits from the age of 50 and can take up to a quarter as a tax free lump sum.

Andrew Tully, senior pensions policy manager at Standard Life, said: "This change is long overdue and will be especially beneficial to women, who are more likely to receive pension benefits as part of a divorce settlement."

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the provisional number of divorces in the UK was 144,220 last year, a 2.6 per cent fall from 148,141 in 2006.

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