Before you file for divorce, double-check the size of his pension

Divorce is a trauma, regardless of how amicable it appears to the outside world. How much worse for the thousands of women being short-changed financially simply because they agree to settle finances out of court?

This week, Age UK has called upon a change in the law to ensure private pensions are considered as part of any divorce process and, where possible, divided fairly between the spouses.

Like all Telegraph readers, I’m instinctively wary of the state meddling in our personal lives for the sake of it. But in this instance it seems unconscionable that what is effectively a cheats’ charter can continue to exist. Of course, in these egalitarian times, it’s necessary to point out that sometimes it is the woman who has the private pension pot and the man who may end up impoverished due to a lack of transparency, but not so often.

According to official data from the Office for National Statistics, men aged between 55 to 64 have median (that’s not the same as average, but I’m not numerate enough to explain how) pension wealth of around £120,500.

Women, by comparison, have a median pension wealth of £42,300. As many as one in three women aged between 55 and 70 have been through divorce according to the charity, and as a result of this

loophole, thousands are being left worse off in retirement.

Particularly awful is the situation of women approaching retirement age who discover they haven’t built up the necessary contributions to get a full pension. Why? Because they had, not unreasonably, expected a share of their husband’s private scheme.

But research by Scottish Widows has revealed that seven out of 10 couples don’t even discuss their pensions at all before divorce, so we can’t entirely blame the system.

It’s not just down to the Government; everyone who is married, including women like me, obviously need to talk about the issue well in advance.

Openness about pensions when times are good means less opportunity for obfuscation if the relationship turns bad.

It would be nice to think that, in an age of two-salary households, this will happen in the future. But until then, it should be enshrined in law that all divorcing wives have the right to see the size of their husband’s pension pot. This is about fairness, not feminism.