My solicitor says I must have a Report. What should I do?

Taking the first steps in the process of obtaining a Pension Sharing Report might be a daunting prospect, but at Collins Pension Actuaries we aim to make the process as seamless and straightforward as possible.

It may be the case that your solicitor or mediator has suggested that a Pension Sharing Report might be worth considering as part of the divorce settlement or you may have decided that you want to investigate having a Report.

Either way, below is a guide to assist you in taking those first steps towards obtaining a Report, finding out the costs and timescales involved and how to actually instruct a Single Joint Expert to prepare a Pension Sharing Report.

So, where to start?

One of the first questions asked is how much will a Report cost? This important information can be obtained quickly and easily by using our Obtain a Quote facility on our website.

Obtain A Quote »

All you need to do is follow the guide and list the name of the pensions involved and the Cash Equivalent Value (CEV) of each pension. Collins Pension Actuaries will respond instantly to your request by email, giving a fee range so that you can understand the likely costs involved should you wish to proceed.

Within the Obtain a Quote facility you will be asked to answer questions about your pensions and divorce case. As part of the quotation you receive, these questions will provide you with a comprehensive checklist guide. This guide will indicate the type of pensions information you will need to provide, the forms you will need to complete, how to create data collection letters to send to your pension schemes and sample instruction wording.

You can create a comprehensive checklist guide at any time using our Create a Checklist facility.

Create a Checklist »

Once you have created your Checklist we recommend that you use our Data Collection Letter generator to request the pension information that will be required for the purposes of preparing a Report.

Create Data Collection Letters »

We advise you to utilise our Data Collection Letter generator as soon as possible regardless of whether or not you decide to have a Report at this time. This is because pension schemes can take up to 3 months to respond and provide the relevant information. Undertaking data collection now will save time later if you change your mind and wish to have a Report.

If you decide that you wish to have a Report, then you will need to formally instruct Collins Pension Actuaries so that we can issue formal Terms and Conditions of Business for you to consider and sign.

If you are uncertain of what wording to use to instruct Collins Pension Actuaries, then please see the Create a Checklist facility or the FAQ on this topic: What instruction wording should I use?. There is also an FAQ on what you you can expect to be included in a Pension Sharing Report: What is included in a Pension Sharing Report?

When you instruct us, it is very important to include as much information about your respective pensions as possible since this will minimise the additional information that will need to be requested from the schemes. Ideally, if you have already used our Data Collection Letter generator to ask for information from your pension schemes then most, if not all, of the information we need will have already been provided to you.

Once an instruction has been received, we will analyse and assess the pension information provided and issue formal Terms and Conditions of Business along with detailed questions for you to ask your pension schemes in respect of any additional pension information, if any, that we require. We will continue this guided data collection until all of the pension information required has been obtained by you.

Once all of the pensions information has been provided we will advise you of when we expect to be able to issue the Report and issue our invoice, which must be settled before the Report will be issued. Please note that if you have an imminent Court Hearing date then unless we have all of the required pensions information we will not be able to prepare a Report.

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