Pension Sharing Order.
The firm prepares Pension Sharing Order calculations supporting matrimonial settlements in family proceedings — across the spectrum of instruction contexts, whether direct from parties, via mediators, or via solicitors leading negotiations, in some matters as Single Joint Expert and in others as party-appointed Expert. The calculation itself is the same; the procedural context is what changes. Engagements are senior-led from instruction through to cross-examination where the matter requires it.
Senior-led expert evidence in matrimonial proceedings.
Pension Sharing Order reports prepared for matrimonial proceedings are expert evidence governed by Part 25 of the Family Procedure Rules. The Court’s confidence in the report rests on the Expert who signs it: a named pension actuary acting under three concentric professional anchors — TAS 100 (General Actuarial Standards), issued by the Financial Reporting Council, applying to all actuarial output; APS X3 (The Actuary as an Expert in Legal Proceedings), issued by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, governing the Expert’s competence, independence and conduct; and FPR Part 25 itself, governing the procedural form of expert evidence in family proceedings. The Expert accepts personal responsibility for the analytical work, prepares the report under the overriding duty to the Court regardless of who instructed them, and warranties through the Statement of Truth that the report meets all three anchors. Fees are not linked to the outcome of the proceedings.
The Expert is supported by the firm’s institutional infrastructure — the Fair Value Framework, operationalised through Congruent Calculations™, with each calculation chain captured as an audit-traceable CMC™ artefact. The infrastructure makes the work reproducible and defensible under cross-examination; the Expert is the source of the evidence.
Two instruction routes, by representation status.
The Calculation Service is the same regardless of route — same Expert, same calculation, same deliverable, same Pension Sharing Order CMC™. What changes is how the joint instruction is assembled and served on the firm.
Solicitor-led joint instruction
Both parties’ solicitors co-instruct the firm’s Expert, typically as Single Joint Expert under FPR Part 25. The joint instruction is assembled by the solicitors at arm’s length from the firm. Solicitors typically use their own joint instruction documents drafted to their house style; the firm’s Pension Sharing Instruction Form — the eight-section instrument covering proceedings and parties, targeted outcomes, technical instructions, procedural rules and the Statement of Truth — is available where useful but is not required. The firm engages with both solicitors throughout, delivers the report simultaneously to both, and shares all communications with both sides. Standard family-law procedural cadence.
The firm contracts through its short Invitation Letter with General Terms and Conditions, alongside whichever joint instruction the solicitors have assembled.
Solicitor enquiry →Portal-route joint instruction
Where parties aren’t solicitor-represented — engaging directly, or supported by a mediator — instruction runs through the My Congruent portal. Without solicitors running joint instruction at arm’s length, the joint-instruction-assembly function has to be carried by something; the portal is what the firm has built for that purpose, and the route through which the firm can properly receive a joint instruction in the absence of legal representation. There is no fee for the instruction-writing process through the portal — the fee is for the calculation work itself, scoped from the completed instruction.
For the substantive engagement lifecycle — from registration through to signed Expert report — see How the engagement runs below. The Expert’s overriding duty to the Court applies regardless of route — the contractual register is FPR Part 25 expert evidence, not consumer claims-management.
Register my access to this service →From instruction to signed expert report.
Five stages from instruction to signed Expert report. What changes between solicitor-led and portal-route engagements is how the joint instruction is assembled in Stage 1; everything from Stage 2 onward runs identically.
Joint instruction assembled
The two parties (or their representatives) commission the firm jointly. Solicitor route: both parties’ solicitors co-instruct the firm’s Expert, typically as Single Joint Expert under FPR Part 25. Portal route: where the parties aren’t solicitor-represented, the joint instruction is assembled through the firm’s My Congruent portal — structured co-editing of the Instruction Form, Statement-of-Truth signatures from both parties, and a signed instruction PDF served on the firm’s Expert. The portal’s active-acceptance process and the firm’s position throughout (independent expert, never intermediary) are set out in the portal access page.
Contracting and conflict checks
The firm contracts through its short Invitation Letter with General Terms and Conditions, alongside whichever joint instruction has been assembled. Initial conflict checks are performed against the firm’s engagement records (parties, advisers, schemes); engagement scoping covers timeline, fee basis, named individuals on both sides, and any expert-evidence procedural requirements specific to the proceedings. The Expert’s overriding duty to the Court applies regardless of route — the contractual register is FPR Part 25 expert evidence, not consumer claims-management.
Information gathering
The firm collects the substantive material the calculation requires — CETV statements, Form E disclosures, scheme documents (Trust Deed and Rules, Member Booklet, latest valuation), and any specific data items the methodology requires for the schemes in scope. Material is requested from the parties or their representatives; the firm does not contact the schemes directly unless instructed jointly to do so. The firm provides a calculation service; it does not act as an intermediary, an information-gathering agent, or a relationship manager between the parties.
Calculation and reporting
The firm performs the calculation under TAS 100 (FRC), APS X3 (IFoA), and the procedural rules of the Court receiving the report (FPR Part 25 for family proceedings; CPR Part 35 for civil proceedings). Each calculation chain is captured as an audit-traceable CMC™ artefact — the calculation control ID, the method note, the assumption set, the data inputs, and the result — reproducible by any competent actuary instructed to verify the work. The final report is signed by the named Expert with the Statement of Truth attached.
Post-report
The Expert is available for written responses to expert questions under CPR Part 35.6 (or the FPR equivalent), for attendance at hearings, and for cross-examination if required. Where additional analysis is requested in light of new information — supplementary CETVs becoming available, schemes responding to data requests, methodological challenges from an opposing party’s expert — the firm performs the additional work under the same engagement, with the audit trail extended through new CMC™ artefacts.
The firm’s position throughout: independent expert, never intermediary. The relationship between the two parties is theirs; the firm’s relationship is with the calculation methodology and, where the matter is Court-facing, with the Court. The Expert’s overriding duty under FPR Part 25 / CPR Part 35 is to the Court regardless of which party instructed (or whether the parties instructed jointly). This is why the firm does not chase, mediate, or facilitate communication between the parties at any stage. The substantive deliverable is always the same: a defensible Expert report, signed under the Statement of Truth, supported by audit-traceable calculation infrastructure.
What the calculation does.
The substantive work of the Pension Sharing Order Calculation Service — pension-sharing orders, offsetting, equalisation. Senior-led from instruction through cross-examination.
Reports prepared for matrimonial proceedings.
Single joint expert and party-expert instructions accepted, with reports prepared to CPR Part 35 expert duties or equivalent procedural rules. Scope per instruction: pension-sharing orders, offsetting valuations, equalisation of income at state pension age, capital equalisation at the valuation date. MCA 1973 Part II in England and Wales; equivalent provisions in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
DB and DC arrangements valued symmetrically.
Defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension arrangements valued on the same gilt curve, mortality basis, and inflation curve, at the parties’ agreed valuation date. Public-sector schemes are handled using their published statutory factors as a starting point, with methodological extension where the published factor doesn’t address the substantive question. The methodology is consistent across every matrimonial engagement.
An expert report that stands up to scrutiny.
Each engagement produces an expert report formatted to court conventions, with full disclosure of the assumption set used, the calculation chain, and the firm's reasoning. Supplementary reports under CPR 35.6 written-question procedure, and cross-examination preparation, are handled by the report's author directly.
Single point of contact throughout.
The senior pensions expert handling the instruction is the report's author, handles all PODI request correspondence, and gives oral evidence directly. No outsourcing to junior staff at any stage of the work.
Common questions about pension valuation on divorce.
Buyers come to the firm with recurring questions about pension valuation on divorce. The methodology is the same across instruction routes — what differs is the procedural posture: single joint expert, party-appointed expert, or instruction prior to Form E disclosure. The numbers, the assumptions, and the report standards do not change with the procedural route.
Form E, the CETV, and what the calculation does.
The cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) declared on Form E is the starting point for pension on divorce work, not the answer. The firm reviews the CETV against the realistic value of the pension promise, identifies the gap where one is present (notably for defined-benefit schemes where the CETV understates the spouse’s economic interest), and prepares a court-ready calculation that supports the Pension Sharing Order — or the offset, where offset is the negotiated route.
Single joint expert and party-appointed instruction.
Single joint expert (SJE) instruction is the dominant route in matrimonial proceedings. The firm prepares the calculation, the report, and the expert evidence at the standard required under FPR Part 25 and TAS 100, with the same methodology whether the appointment is SJE or party-appointed. The deliverable is an expert report compliant with Practice Direction 25B, supported by the firm’s actuarial workings and audit-traceable through the calculation platform.
Pension on divorce expert — the PoDE practice.
Pension on Divorce Expert (PoDE) is the recognised actuarial specialism in matrimonial pension work. The firm operates as PoDE on both single joint expert and party-appointed instructions, with the methodology and audit-traceability the family court expects: Bank of England data for inflation and gilt yields, FCA tables for the prescribed assumptions (where retail principles apply), and TAS 100 governance throughout.
Family-law practices and the wider matrimonial-litigation field.
Law firms
Family-law specialist practices and family-law sets — instructing solicitors and the barristers' chambers they brief. The firm operates to the cadence and document standards the channel expects.
Mediators
Family mediators commissioning calculations as part of the broader mediation process. Mediators run separate portal instances per couple under their login; the joint instruction is assembled by the parties under the mediator’s facilitation, with the calculation produced and signed by the firm’s Expert. The mediator does not act for either party in the calculation work — the firm’s structural independence is preserved regardless of route.
The Pension Sharing Order Calculation Service runs on the Congruent Calculations™ platform — the firm’s audit-ready calculation engine. For the firm’s Pension on Divorce expert practice in advisory and litigation contexts beyond Pension Sharing Order calculations, see Expert witness.
Standard quote.
The Pension Sharing Order Calculation Service is priced on a fixed-fee basis with a defined delivery window. Standard cases are quoted at the published fee; non-standard variants are scoped on instruction.
Expert report compliant with FPR Part 25, Pension Sharing Order CMC™ artefact, and written questions to the Single Joint Expert under FPR r.25.10.
Court attendance and oral evidence are quoted separately when required. Non-standard cases — multiple defined-benefit schemes, contested valuation dates, or matters with significant procedural complexity — are scoped and quoted on instruction.
The structure of the joint instruction and the path from instruction through to signed Expert report is set out above: see How the engagement runs.
*Standard fee covers calculations involving up to two defined-benefit pensions; there is no limit on defined-contribution pensions within the combined arrangement. Engagements outside this scope are quoted separately — confirmed on receipt of joint signed instructions, or indicatively in advance if the number of pensions is provided at enquiry.
Discuss a case.
Brief context, scope and timing — the firm responds within one working day with whether it can take the instruction and what it would need to scope it.