ivannomonet
Registered User
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- 86
Hi All, I have a dilemma that I am hoping someone can advise me on how best to proceed.
I separated from my ex-wife in 1997 and left the family home. No children in the relationship, both working at the time.
I employed a solicitor to handle a judicial separation between my ex-wife and myself in 2000.
Later in 2002, the same solicitor handled the divorce for me.
As part of the judicial separation agreement in 2000, under the advice of the solicitor I signed over all and any interest in the family home to my then wife and in return she agreed to relinquish any claim on my defined contribution pension fund.
During the divorce proceedings in 2002 which she did not contest nor attend, the judge noted that an individual could not sign away a right to a share of my pension but in recognisance of the fact she had been given the family home in return he made a pension adjustment order for “a nominal amount” to comply with the law.
When I queried with the solicitor what a nominal amount was, he replied a penny would suffice to say she had been given a share. A token gesture would fulfill the legal requirements. A pension adjustment order was submitted to the pension trustees afterwards.
A few months back I had a meeting with a representative from the pension company to do a review of my fund choices.
I asked what my final pension fund was likely to be based on usual assumptions regarding growth, contributions etc.
He stated he was unable to tell me as he noted there was a pension adjustment order on file but no details associated with it.
He went back through the records over several weeks and was able to tell me they had sent several letters to the solicitor asking for the details which were never replied to.
I then tried to contact the solicitor only to find he was struck off for fraud around 2015/2016.
I contacted the law society of Ireland and eventually a person came back to me stating they had his historic files and requesting my name, date of birth, addresses, dates of both legal proceeding and court they occurred in.
I later received a reply saying they could find no files at all relating to me as a client of the business and they could do no more.
I had since remarried and have 4 children.
I have had no contact with my first wife since 2000 and since the separation was not amicable she is likely to take everything she could possibly get if I approached her to get involved.
My question now is how do I proceed to clean up this mess? Would a court have a record of this “nominal amount” or some other entity?
Any advice welcome.
I separated from my ex-wife in 1997 and left the family home. No children in the relationship, both working at the time.
I employed a solicitor to handle a judicial separation between my ex-wife and myself in 2000.
Later in 2002, the same solicitor handled the divorce for me.
As part of the judicial separation agreement in 2000, under the advice of the solicitor I signed over all and any interest in the family home to my then wife and in return she agreed to relinquish any claim on my defined contribution pension fund.
During the divorce proceedings in 2002 which she did not contest nor attend, the judge noted that an individual could not sign away a right to a share of my pension but in recognisance of the fact she had been given the family home in return he made a pension adjustment order for “a nominal amount” to comply with the law.
When I queried with the solicitor what a nominal amount was, he replied a penny would suffice to say she had been given a share. A token gesture would fulfill the legal requirements. A pension adjustment order was submitted to the pension trustees afterwards.
A few months back I had a meeting with a representative from the pension company to do a review of my fund choices.
I asked what my final pension fund was likely to be based on usual assumptions regarding growth, contributions etc.
He stated he was unable to tell me as he noted there was a pension adjustment order on file but no details associated with it.
He went back through the records over several weeks and was able to tell me they had sent several letters to the solicitor asking for the details which were never replied to.
I then tried to contact the solicitor only to find he was struck off for fraud around 2015/2016.
I contacted the law society of Ireland and eventually a person came back to me stating they had his historic files and requesting my name, date of birth, addresses, dates of both legal proceeding and court they occurred in.
I later received a reply saying they could find no files at all relating to me as a client of the business and they could do no more.
I had since remarried and have 4 children.
I have had no contact with my first wife since 2000 and since the separation was not amicable she is likely to take everything she could possibly get if I approached her to get involved.
My question now is how do I proceed to clean up this mess? Would a court have a record of this “nominal amount” or some other entity?
Any advice welcome.