Having just attended an excellent seminar presented by Helen Blackburn from Oaklands Wealth Management and Mike Morrison from AJ Bell Invest Centre it is clear that all of the changes to pensions as from April is an absolute minefield. All family lawyers need to think carefully about the advice their clients need. This article is just one example of a concern the changes may make into a reality.
The number of people becoming insolvent in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a decade, according to official data. But while the number of people going bankrupt is just a third of what it was five years ago, the headline figures disguise a surge in the take-up of a form of insolvency dubbed “bankruptcy lite”: the individual voluntary arrangement (IVA). The data has prompted warnings that the new pension freedoms being introduced in April may mean creditors are able to force debtors to break into their pension pot in order to pay what they owe.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jan/29/insolvencies-risk-pensions-savings
