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You will not be surprised to hear that as a divorce legal representative among the questions that I'm often asked is, 'when is my best time to submit for divorce in order to get the greatest settlement?'.
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The prize they have in mind is their hubby (or other half's) pension and I give them a very basic answer: the longer the marital relationship - the larger the claim.

Take Trudy whose 2nd marriage was to Eric, a rich residential or commercial property developer who had a couple of residential or commercial properties, ISAs and investments. To Trudy, the real prize was Eric's pension which deserved more than ₤ 1 million.

The marriage came to an end after 5 years, but when Trudy tried to declare versus Eric's pension she was devastated to be told by her attorney that instead of the half-share that she had determined in her mind that she would be granted, she was incorrect.

Eric could, in fact, ring fence all the pension that he had developed prior to the marital relationship. This indicated that Trudy might just lay claim to a small percentage that had actually accrued during their short time together.

The judge felt that the excessiveness of Trudy's claim was too expensive which most of the wealth in the marital relationship had actually originated from Eric and this was reflected in the settlement that Trudy received.

So while she got a capitalised settlement to show the lifestyle that they had actually taken pleasure in together, it was nowhere near her expectations. The moral of this story? A short marriage equates to less properties awarded.

It could not have actually been more different for Gloria, who was married to Frank for more than thirty years. Frank confessed to having affairs with ladies who he described as 'the worked with aid', believing it did not actually count as adultery. It did to Gloria. As the pensions stacked up during their three decade relationship, Gloria was able to declare half of it and was given equality of all the pensions.

Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a top divorce attorney, states the longer the marriage, the larger the divorce claim

Frank could not call fence one penny of it. And thanks to the length of the marital relationship, Gloria received what is called a 'Joint Lives Order' for upkeep. Simply put, this means Gloria would be given upkeep for life, although this is uncommon today as the majority of upkeep payments are for a set term only.

It was not helped by the truth that Frank had not been forthcoming over the real level of his cost savings and had at the last moment tried to move funds offshore. He was provided a punitive award and Gloria took advantage of a number of thousands more on her side of the divorce equation. The ethical here is that dishonesty does not pay - particularly in a divorce court.

So that's short and long marriages - what about a longer than average length of marriage (12 years) for state 15 years?

Here the court will equalise the capital of the pension unless wealth has been accrued before or indeed, for a period, after separation.

It is always crucial that a pensions professional evaluate the worth of a pension so the correct figure can be determined.

Which is where Gemma came unstuck. She had a 16-year marriage to City broker Paul. His pension encountered hundreds of thousands of pounds. Gemma was none too troubled by the pension however, like many wives I see, she wanted the security of remaining in the home that she liked. So rather of declaring any of Paul's pension she traded it off against the worth of your house.

This is called a 'set-off', but as an attorney I would constantly suggest to any customer that an actuary report is acquired very first and all alternatives are thought about.

Wives in specific can bring out a lower offer when they pick this alternative. The moral here is that you may feel young and ready to start afresh, however do not be too quick to trade away your future pension.

Vanessa says that in a marriage longer than the average of 12 years, the court will equalise the capital of the pension unless wealth has been accrued before or, for a period, after separation

Another concern I'm frequently asked is whether a mediator will consider all of the couple's possessions to increase a settlement.

Many individuals seem to believe that arbitrators will go simple on the parties - and husbands in specific - might get away with more by using an arbitrator, than if the matter is before the court.

This is a misconception, as Neil discovered. The company director believed that mediation would imply that he might put pressure on Judy to settle. It had actually been a long marriage spanning twenty-eight years and he thought that Judy was not the brightest. He felt he might bluff his way through and hoodwink the arbitrator.

What Neil had not reckoned upon was the tenacity and cleverness of the arbitrator who insisted that all info be produced for the conferences. The mediator might see that Neil was being obstructive in responding to questions about monetary deals and motion of cash between subsidiary companies.

Little had actually Neil suspected that the arbitrator had actually been a forensic investigator for HMRC, before ending up being a matrimonial conciliator. After lots of sessions the conciliator recommended a settlement figure which Neil was outraged by and insisted they litigate. Unfortunately for Neil - the exact same settlement figure was reached in court. It's worth bearing in mind that mediation can be a far better method of dealing with matters however is never a soft choice.

Mediators will assist the couple and instruct actuaries to work out pension divisions whatever the length of the marital relationship. The courts are now motivating the celebrations to think about alternatives to court procedures especially. Arbitration is also being motivated. All these choices are readily available in brief, medium and long marriages.

This is the reason EVERYONE is divorcing ... and why your is at risk without you understanding

So no matter the length of your marriage, I advise all my customers not to have impractical expectations of what the final figure should be. It's vital to understand that you can not penalize your soon to be ex-partner in the courtroom. Unless you can demonstrate that the behaviour of your partner has had a financial effect, the conduct or behaviour will be disregarded.

Let me introduce you now to Henry, who believed that he was being especially clever when he transferred his shares in the household business to his brother, moneyed in the capital from his pension and provided it to a pal and purchased himself a Lamborghini.

This was due to the fact that Claudia, his spouse of twelve years had begun divorce procedures. At the end of the litigation, the court discovered that he was intentionally attempting to minimize the assets available to Claudia and included back all the value of the pension, the expense of the Lamborghini and the shares to his side of the formula and then divided all of it in half. Henry's actions were so contrived that his efforts to drain pipes the possessions totally backfired on him. Oh and Henry needed to offer the Lamborghini.

The moral of the story when it concerns how to maximise your settlement? Don't attempt to be too smart, play reasonable and truthfully, or risk the really opposite of what you hoped to accomplish. Divorce can be a minefield, and it does not have to explode for either of you if you both take reasonable actions towards fixing matters.

* All names have actually been altered to secure client identity.