The Daily Mirror used our press release as the lead in their financial section with the article written by their editor.

NEARLY 750,000 DIVORCEES COULD BE ENTITLED TO TENS OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS AFTER THEIR PENSION SETTLEMENT WAS UNDERVALUED

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LIFELINE Case Study – Mrs X

Mrs X was divorced in 2004. When she was divorced her main priority was having a roof over her head for herself and her 4 children. At that time the oldest was only 14 years old.

She had been the child carer and as such her own career- as a Nurse- had been abandoned to bring up the children of the family.

Once they were separated, Mrs X used a local solicitor. She had never been involved with lawyers before- except for buying the family home- and she found the whole process of divorce very confusing and intimidating.

When the Divorce Settlement was negotiated she gave up her share in her husband’s pension in return for a larger share of the equity in the former matrimonial home. She did this as she knew she could not afford a large mortgage as her part time earnings would always stay modest- at least until the children were independent.

A friend of Mrs X- who had already used Lifeline successfully- suggested to Mrs X that she ought to contact Lifeline to check that her divorce deal was fair.

When LifeLine was contacted by Mrs X the file of papers that LifeLine obtained from Mrs X’s former Solicitors revealed that the Pension had been valued on a CETV basis- and an Independent Financial Advisor confirmed to LifeLine that the valuation used by the Solicitor of Mrs X was substantially below the true value.

In fact the true value of the Pension had in fact been approximately £60,000 higher. Mrs X had lost her share of that extra £60,000- she had lost almost £30,000.

The divorce settlement had been made in 2005 and Mrs X was also entitled to Interest from 2005 – at 8% per year. Her true claim was for nearly £30,000 plus interest of nearly £12,000 making an overall claim value in the region of £42,000.

From Mrs X’s viewpoint she was not heavily involved in the claim- the bulk of the work was done by Lifeline and the team of professionals they appointed.

The claim of Mrs X was settled on a without prejudice basis- and with a mutual obligation of confidentiality- prohibiting the naming of either party to this claim, or their Solicitors or Insurers.

As Mrs X said to LifeLine - “I could never have saved such a large sum of money from my low income. I secured part- time work following the divorce- but of course I could not work full time because of my commitments with the children. Life has been a long struggle since the divorce. This money will make a huge difference especially for my children- they certainly don’t get any cheaper as they get older!”
The value of the final settlement was in excess of £32,000.

WE CANNOT BREAK THE MUTUAL CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE IN THE SETTLEMENT BUT IF YOU REQUIRE MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT JEREMY AT LIFELINE ON 01932 240048