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Last Updated: Friday, 20 May, 2005, 08:29 GMT 09:29 UK
Divorced women miss pension share
A couple
Divorce can damage the retirement wealth prospects of women
Women are failing to properly exploit rules which allow them a share in their husband's pension at divorce, finance service company Killik has said.

Only about one in 100 divorces involve a pension-sharing order, where a private or workplace pension is divided between a divorcing couple.

These orders were introduced to better compensate women for lost pension due to time off work bringing up children.

Killik warned that many divorced women were facing retirement poverty.

"Pensions are still being overlooked in asset-splitting in divorce," Malcolm Cuthbert, Killik's director of financial services, said.

"After the matrimonial home, pensions are normally the biggest asset in a divorce settlement."

Mr Cuthbert added that women struggled to build up a pension to provide themselves with enough income during retirement.

This was because they were more likely to take career breaks to look after children and tended to earn less than men.


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