Military divorce

Divorce in military families does not differ from a civilian divorce. The legal process stays the same, and as long as you live in the UK, the divorce can take place in the UK.

 

Military Pensions

One of the most significant assets in a military family is a pension. Therefore, it is worth considering your options when agreeing to settle your finances. The Court will consider the length of your marriage, the needs of both people, their matrimonial assets and so on. Additionally, military pensions can also differ vastly due to the benefits that they carry. For example, the 'cash equivalent transfer value' (the monetary value of the pension) may be surprisingly low. However, the benefits which are attached to the pension may be more than you would expect. With regards to splitting your pension in a divorce, there are three options:

Pension Offsetting 

This involves calculating the value of your pension and giving the other person other assets to offset your pension. This is the only option if you want to keep all of your pension.

Pension Attachment Order 

This enables a share of the pension holder's pension to be allocated to their spouse. When the pension is drawn up, the spouse will receive a percentage of the lump sum and a share of the monthly income. The pension holder controls when the pension is drawn and the amount taken as a lump sum.

Pension Sharing Order

When the divorce is completed and the Decree Absolute granted, a percentage of the pension is allocated to the pension holder's spouse.

 

Child Maintenance:

Usually, military families move around, and as a result, the children often attend boarding schools. There is always the question of who is going to pay the school fees when parents separate. British Armed Forces personnel are generally entitled to some reduction in private tuition fees. However, the fact remains that there could still be significant school fees to pay.

If the parents disagree on who should pay for specific items, such as school fees, annual holidays etc. Then they can ask the Court to evaluate the situation and make an order to include Periodical Payments which allow the person with the more substantial income to contribute to them. This payment can lie outside of the general responsibility known as child maintenance.

 

How we can help

The process of getting a divorce is a difficult period for all involved, Lestons can assist clients in various ways and seek to resolve the myriad of issues that accompany a divorce. We would have two teams, (one legal and one third-party independent financial advisors) who will work together to put forward workable solutions which we hope both sides can agree on. We can act for both parties in the divorce, it would simply mean that each side has its own team, taking instruction from their respective client.

Lestons can assign specialists and independent staff to create a mutually agreeable settlement, they will typically meet both sides for an impartial discussion to determine points of common ground, then examine specific points as required, after this, we can create a report to the lodge to the court.

 

The large cost legal fees that have been in the newspapers come around with lawyers writing letters (at £100+ a time) over insignificant and minute details. With both sides working for Lestons means that there is a significant saving on dealing with small issues as instead of prolonged correspondence they can simply arrange a combined video call with everyone involved and sort things out without recourse to expensive letters and so on. The one certainty in a prolonged, messy, bitter divorce is that the lawyer is usually the only winner so it seems counter-productive to prolong matters and just come to a speedy resolution.

 

In regard to any third-party advisors please note we make no commission from these referrals. To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our appointed experts and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.