Our divorce solicitors have gained a great reputation locally for assisting members of the NHS with their divorce and finances. This has grown organically after years of receiving word of mouth referrals and recommendations from previous clients to their friends, family and colleagues. Our finance solicitors are used to dealing with shift patterns, different income streams and NHS Pensions.
When starting divorce or dissolution proceedings, we will ask NHS Pensions to provide a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV); we ask for this at the very start as it can take up to 3 months. If you are an active member of the NHS, every year your employer provides details of your pensionable/reckonable pay/earnings and membership, the scheme year being 1st April to 31st March but to calculate your CETV NHS Pensions will require a more up to date pensionable/reckonable pay/earnings and membership details from your employer. If you are a deferred member (who left more than 12 months ago) or a pensioner member NHS Pensions should have all the information we need and be able to calculate your CETV easily although if there are any issues they can seek further information.
The 2015 Scheme and the 1995/2008 Scheme are separate pension schemes for the purposes of a divorce or a dissolution. Our solicitors will therefore seek a CETV from both the 2015 Scheme and the 1995/2008 Scheme. Our solicitors are also aware that when it comes to drafting orders it is important to refer separately to the 2015 scheme and the 1995/2008 scheme and that if this is not referred to correctly it can lead to delays.
Once a sealed Court order is sent to NHS Pensions they have to give effect to the contents of the order within 4 months although this can be delayed if there is any missing information. Once the Court Order has been put into operation NHS Pensions will provide a ‘notice of discharge of liability’ which gives details of the credit or debit to the pension.
