Pensions in payment

Martin-Dye (Philip) v Martin-Dye (Heather Lynn) [2006] EWCA Civ 681; NLJ 21 July

The appellant husband appealed against an order made in ancillary relief proceedings. The parties had been married for 15 years. The husband was a commercial pilot who had taken early retirement on the grounds of ill health and had a pension that was already in payment. The wife also had a pension in payment. At the date of the marriage the wife had been richer than the husband and had brought in greater assets, including her former matrimonial home from which she ran a livery yard. The district judge found that the husband’s initial contribution was 18% and the wife’s 82%. Both parties sought a clean break. The cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) figures for the two pensions were the same as the cash equivalent of benefits (CEB) calculations required by regulation 3 of the Pensions on Divorce etc (Provision of Information) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No 1048). The husband’s pension CETV was £940,000, estimated at £170,000 at the date of the marriage, and the wife’s was £100,000. The husband contended that if the pensions in payment were to be brought into account, that should be by way of a pension sharing order. The district judge split the global assets, including the CETV values of the pensions, awarding 57% to the wife and 43% to the husband. The share of each party included their pension entitlement.