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Frequently Asked Questions

As mentioned in the communication guidelines section of our Fee Letter, for the purpose of transparency we would request that we do not receive any telephone calls regarding the case, and instead all communication, including any questions you may have should be made by email, ensuring the other party/solicitor is copied in. A copy of our communication guidelines can be found here.

Please note: where we are instructed by a solicitor acting on behalf of the you, we would request that all communication is made via your solicitor and that we do not receive any communication directly from you.

  • It must be dated within the last three months, at the time that we are submitting it to the pension provider
  • It must be fully completed, if not it is unlikely to be accepted.
  • It must in the format of AFL authority template downloaded from the AFL website to ensure that it includes all of the required information. A copy of the letter of authority for our West Yorkshire office can be found here.
  • The client’s name and address detailed on the authority must match the name and address held by the pension provider.
  • The signature must be a wet signature, rather than an electronic signature
  • The original document should be provided to us in addition to any scanned copy, as some providers insist on receiving the original document with a ‘wet’ signature

Our fee letter will advise the usual timescales for preparation of our reports. Please note that the timescale will only commence once we have received the following:

    1. Signed terms of engagement from both parties and
    2. Confirmation that your solicitor is holding funds for your share of the cost of the report or if you are acting in person, we have received payment from you for your share of the cost of the report

Once our report is complete, we will issue our report in pdf format by email. A hard copy of the report can also be issued by post on request.

Actuaries for Lawyers are committed to maintaining a client’s privacy and our Privacy Policy may be accessed online at Privacy-Policy-West-Yorkshire.pdf (actuariesforlawyers.com).  We make every attempt to ensure that confidential data is not shared and do not readily disclose confidential addresses (postal and email) of clients in correspondence with the instructing parties.  If there is any concern that particular information is not to be made available to an ex-spouse or their representative, we would recommend that we are made aware of this at the earliest opportunity.

Where you are an active member of a defined benefit/final salary pension Scheme, that is you are still employed by the company and contributions are being made to the pension scheme, we would require the following payslips:

    • Payslip issued in March of the current year. Please note that it is the payslip for that month that we require rather than the P60.
    • Payslip issued in March of the previous year
    • Your most recent payslip
  • A State Pension Statement (BR19) is a document which shows your estimated State Pension at your State Pension Age, based on the contributions made up to the end of the previous tax year, along with their estimated State Pension at your State Pension Age if you continued to make National Insurance contributions.
  • The quickest way to obtain the State Pension Statement (BR19) is online using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement.
  • Please note that we do require a copy of the full document.  An example of this can be found here.

In most cases, Actuaries for Lawyers would require a CEV that is dated no more than twelve months ago when making our calculations, although the circumstances of the case may mean that an older CEV may be sufficient or a more recent CEV may be more appropriate.

Most pension providers of defined benefit (final salary) pension schemes will provide one CEV free of charge in a twelve-month period, where the pension is not already in payment.   Where a pension is in payment however, it is often the case that the pension provider will make a charge to provide a CEV statement at any time, regardless of when the last one was issued.  If this is the case, it may be worthwhile making contact with us to see whether or not it is necessary to get an updated CEV statement and incur charges as in some instances, for example where the particular pension is not going to be subject to a pension sharing order as part of the divorce settlement, we may advise that it is not necessary to get an updated CEV statement.

Please note: Our fee letter will confirm whether a new CEV is required or indeed whether any CEV is actually required.

Most CEVs can be obtained by calling the relevant scheme/provider and requesting a CEV prepared for divorce purposes. However, some public sector schemes require a specific form to be completed to make such a request, including the NHS Pension Scheme, Armed Forces Pension Scheme and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Information on how to obtain a CEV from each of these schemes is detailed below:

How to request an updated CEV from the NHS Pension Scheme

To apply for an updated CEV Statement, the client would be required to complete form PD1 and send it directly to the NHS Pension Scheme (not to ourselves). More information on how to apply together with a link to form PD1 may be found at https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/divorce-or-dissolution-civil-partnership-and-your-pension. If member is an active or deferred member, this should be provided free of charge if one has not been provided in the last 12 months.  If the pension is already in payment, a charge is likely to be levied by the Scheme.

How to request an updated CEV from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme

To apply for an updated CEV Statement, the client would be required to complete and post to the Scheme directly (not to ourselves) the Veterans UK PDF form which may be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/860653/Divorce-Dissolution.pdf. Note that at Part D of the form, the member must request a full statement rather than a free of charge basic statement and must arrange payment of the Scheme charge to provide this statement, as set out at page 4 of the form.

How to request an updated CEV from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme

We understand that the Scheme is able to provide an estimate of the CEV (referred to by the Scheme as an ‘estimated CETV’) in a relatively short time period. To make such a request, the client would need to call the contact centre on 0345 606 6166 or send a message via the member’s portal at https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/login.aspx

Where we have been instructed to perform calculations based on pension rights built up in a particular period only (for example, from the date of marriage to the date of separation), we would request a full contribution history from the existing pension provider.  If we are advised that the plan received a transfer-in, it may be necessary for us to obtain further information from you in order to ascertain the proportion of the transfer-in that accrued during the period that we have been instructed to consider e.g. from the date of marriage to the date of separation.

In some cases, it may be sufficient to simply request confirmation of the dates that the client was employed by X Company if the transfer in was received from a defined benefit/ final salary pension.  In other cases, we may require more information.  Therefore, if you are aware a plan received a transfer-in, it would be helpful if you could provide the following information if it is readily available:

  1. Date the transfer-in was received into the new plan
  2. Which scheme or provider the transfer-in was received from
  3. The period over which contributions were made into the former plan/scheme, plus a full contribution history if this is already readily available to them.
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