Some couples get divorced but don’t sort out financial and property matters straight away.  In a few cases they leave it till several years later.  There is no requirement to deal with financial and property matters at the time of the divorce – the only rule is that the court isn’t allowed to make a financial order (nearly all of which incidentally are made by consent) until there is a decree nisi of divorce.

If the divorce petition was issued before the introduction of pension sharing in 2000, the court is not allowed to make a pension sharing order, even if it’s the obvious way of dealing with the pension issues in the case and even if both parties would like a pension sharing order to be made.  This can be frustrating for all concerned.