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You won't be surprised to hear that as a divorce legal representative among the concerns that I'm often asked is, 'when is my best time to apply for divorce in order to get the highest settlement?'.

The prize they have in mind is their partner (or wife's) pension and I offer them a very easy response: the longer the marriage - 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 reward was Eric's pension which deserved more than ₤ 1 million.

The marital relationship concerned an end after five years, but when Trudy tried to claim versus Eric's pension she was devastated to be told by her attorney that instead of the half-share that she had actually computed in her mind that she would be granted, she was incorrect.

Eric could, in fact, ring fence all the pension that he had developed up prior to the marriage. This implied that Trudy might only claim a tiny proportion that had actually during their brief time together.

The judge felt that the excessiveness of Trudy's claim was too expensive which most of the wealth in the marriage 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 delighted in together, it was no place near her expectations. The moral of this story? A short marital relationship equals less assets granted.

It couldn't have actually been more various for Gloria, who was wed to Frank for more than 30 years. Frank confessed to having affairs with ladies who he described as 'the worked with assistance', thinking it did not really count as cheating. It did to Gloria. As the pensions stacked up during their three decade relationship, Gloria had the ability to claim half of it and was granted equality of all the pensions.

Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a leading divorce attorney, says the longer the marital relationship, the bigger the divorce claim

Frank could not ring fence one cent of it. And thanks to the length of the marriage, Gloria got what is called a 'Joint Lives Order' for maintenance. Simply put, this implies Gloria would be given upkeep for life, although this is unusual today as most upkeep payments are for a set term just.

It was not helped by the truth that Frank had not been forthcoming over the real degree of his cost savings and had at the last minute attempted to transfer funds offshore. He was offered a punitive award and Gloria took advantage of a number of thousands more on her side of the divorce formula. The moral here is that dishonesty does not pay - especially in a divorce court.

So that's brief and long marital relationships - what about a longer than typical length of marriage (12 years) for say 15 years?

Here the court will equalise the capital of the pension unless wealth has been accumulated before or undoubtedly, for a duration, after separation.

It is always vital that a pensions specialist evaluate the worth of a pension so the correct figure can be calculated.

Which is where Gemma came unstuck. She had a 16-year marital relationship to City broker Paul. His pension encountered hundreds of thousands of pounds. Gemma was none too bothered by the pension but, like lots of other halves I see, she wanted the security of remaining in the home that she loved. So rather of claiming any of Paul's pension she traded it off against the value of your home.

This is called a 'set-off', but as a legal representative I would always suggest to any client that an actuary report is acquired first and all options are considered.

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

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

Another question I'm frequently asked is whether an arbitrator will take into consideration all of the couple's possessions to increase a settlement.

So numerous individuals seem to believe that arbitrators will go simple on the parties - and hubbies in specific - might get away with more by using a conciliator, than if the matter is before the court.

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

What Neil had not reckoned upon was the perseverance and cleverness of the arbitrator who insisted that all info be produced for the conferences. The conciliator could see that Neil was being obstructive in answering queries about monetary deals and motion of cash in between subsidiary business.

Little had actually Neil suspected that the conciliator had been a forensic private investigator for HMRC, before ending up being a matrimonial conciliator. After many sessions the arbitrator suggested a settlement figure which Neil was outraged by and insisted they litigate. Unfortunately for Neil - the precise very same settlement figure was reached in court. It's worth keeping in mind that mediation can be a better way of fixing matters however is never ever a soft alternative.

Mediators will assist the couple and advise actuaries to exercise pension divisions whatever the length of the marriage. The courts are now encouraging the parties to consider options to court proceedings especially. Arbitration is likewise being encouraged. All these choices are readily available in short, medium and long marriages.

This is the reason EVERYONE is separating ... and why your marriage is at threat without you understanding

So no matter the length of your marriage, I recommend all my customers not to have unrealistic expectations of what the last figure ought to be. It's vital to realise that you can not penalize your quickly to be ex-partner in the courtroom. Unless you can demonstrate that the behaviour of your partner has had a financial impact, the conduct or behaviour will be disregarded.

Let me introduce you now to Henry, who thought that he was being particularly clever when he transferred his shares in the household business to his sibling, cashed in the capital from his pension and gave it to a buddy and bought himself a Lamborghini.

This was due to the fact that Claudia, his spouse of twelve years had actually begun divorce proceedings. At the end of the litigation, the court found that he was intentionally trying to minimize the assets readily available to Claudia and included back all the value of the pension, the cost of the Lamborghini and the shares to his side of the equation and then divided all of it in half. Henry's actions were so contrived that his efforts to drain the possessions completely backfired on him. Oh and Henry needed to offer the Lamborghini.

The ethical of the story when it concerns how to increase your settlement? Don't attempt to be too smart, play fair and honestly, or risk the extremely opposite of what you wanted to attain. Divorce can be a minefield, and it does not have to blow up for either of you if you both take practical steps towards fixing matters.

* All names have been altered to secure client identity.