In our weekly series, readers can email in with any questions about retirement and pension savings to be answered by our expert, Tom Selby, director of public policy at investment platform AJ Bell. There is nothing he does not know about pensions. If you have a question for him, email us at money@theipaper.com.
Question: I am recently divorced and as a result of a ‘pension sharing order’ have an NHS pension valued at around £250,000. I am confused about how much I can draw down as my new partner and I want to pool our money and buy a house together. How much of this can I access via drawdown and what are the tax implications? What amount can I drawdown tax-free and would this be a one-time withdrawal? I have so far been unable to find clear information concerning this.
Answer: The answer to your question will depend on the type of pension scheme your ‘pension sharing order’ applies to. But before we get into that, let’s cover off what a pension sharing order is and how it can work.
Shorts
When a couple divorces, there are different options available in relation to dividing any pension assets there might be. One of those is a pension sharing order, which enables a percentage of the pension to be transferred to the ex-spouse or civil partner (referred to in the rest of this column as ‘ex-partner’).
