Welcome to Penfam - advice for pensions in divorce

Update: please note  Excalibur Actuaries' recent change of address to 10 Chiswick Wharf, London W4 2SR, Tel: 0208 581 4132, email gwilson@excaliburactuaries.co.uk

Penfam is three leading solicitors specialising in pensions and divorce, David Salter, Maggie Rae, and Robin Ellison, working together to improve the services available to family solicitors, in particular expert actuarial reports. We have recently published a handbook "Pensions on Divorce - Law, Practice and Precedents", available from Lime Legal ( www.limelegal.co.uk ).

We have been working with the actuary partners at Excalibur Actuaries in recent years, discussing with them how actuaries and solicitors can best work together to deal with the pensions issues in divorce cases more effectively. Please see more details on our Actuaries page.

The key aspects we have identified as important, and have worked with Excalibur to incorporate into their expert actuarial report service, are:

Timeliness: a clear timetable is set for all reports at the outset, with a commitment including reduced fees for any report not delivered on time.

Helpfulness: helping the parties collect the necessary information, helping agree appropriate instructions, providing updates of progress, organising reports to be as straightforward as possible.

Thoroughness: anticipating what questions are likely to arise in each case - dealing with them in the initial instructions and report wherever possible (to minimise cost and delays from follow-up questions) - and anticipating what issues are likely to cause misunderstandings and disagreements - dealing with them by providing explanations and commentaries either in the report or in separate briefings (to minimise cost and delay from arguments).

Predictable (and reasonable) cost: giving firm advance fee estimates wherever possible, and advising on how to instructions can be drafted to avoid unnecessary work and cost. 

We are happy to recommend Excalibur's service to family solicitors needing expert reports, and we will continue to work with them to develop that service as pensions and divorce practice itself develops. We hope you find the notes we have brought together in this website helpful, which cover practical aspects of commissioning expert reports as well as technical briefings on some significant issues.