WARNING: Still in service after a divorce? You may lose all of your pension!
I'm currently fighting this with AFPS and have a dispute lodged with the pensions ombudsman as well as having the Forces Pension Society involved. I divorced amicably in 2013, and had a court order apportioning just over 40% of my AFPS 75 pension to my ex, via a Pension Sharing Order. This was because I wanted a 'clean break', which is what this process promises to deliver.
However, as I have remained in service after this, her share of my remaining pension has increased by 20%, meaning that the longer that I remain in service, the less of my original AFPS 75 pension I'll get at retirement. If I served for 8 years beyond my divorce date then ALL of my original AFPS 75 pension would go to her, not just the 40% set in the court order. As it is I'm still going to lose thousands of pounds, which I'm obviously not very happy about.
Whilst I understood and accepted that the amount of her pension would increase gradually with inflation etc, I assumed that this would be in proportion to increases in my own pension. Unfortunately this is not the case and her share is currently increasing at 5% per annum. No-one indicated the excessive rate at which these 'actuarial adjustments' would be applied! AFPS say that they are just following the government guidelines, but in no way, shape or form does this represent a clean break, as the government/forces websites claim for a PSO.
If anyone is in a similar situation please pm me as I am going to fight this. A few of us together would make for a stronger case to get these procedures changed and potentially some of your own pension back. I'm sure that this isn't widely publicised otherwise many divorcing personnel would not stay on, just to fill another's pension pot! What a manning headache that would be!
So, my fellow ppruners, have any of you had any experience with this too?