You will not be shocked to hear that as a divorce attorney among the questions that I'm often asked is, 'when is my best time to apply for divorce in order to get the greatest settlement?'.

The reward they have in mind is their husband (or partner's) pension and I provide an extremely easy response: the longer the marriage - the bigger the claim.

Take Trudy whose second marriage was to Eric, a wealthy residential or commercial property designer who had a few residential or commercial properties, ISAs and investments. To Trudy, the real prize was Eric's pension which was worth more than ₤ 1 million.

The marital relationship pertained to an end after 5 years, but when Trudy tried to declare versus Eric's pension she was ravaged to be informed by her lawyer that rather of the half-share that she had actually determined in her mind that she would be awarded, she was wrong.

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

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

So while she got a capitalised settlement to reflect the way of life that they had taken pleasure in together, it was nowhere near her expectations. The moral of this story? A short marital relationship equates to less assets awarded.

It couldn't have been more various for Gloria, who was wed to Frank for more than thirty years. Frank confessed to having affairs with women who he described as 'the hired aid', believing it did not truly count as infidelity. It did to Gloria. As the pensions stacked up throughout their 3 decade relationship, Gloria was able to declare half of it and was given equality of all the pensions.

Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a leading divorce lawyer, says the longer the marital relationship, the larger the divorce claim

Frank could not call fence one penny of it. And thanks to the length of the marriage, Gloria got what is called a 'Joint Lives Order' for upkeep. Put just, this indicates Gloria would be provided maintenance for life, although this is rare today as most maintenance payments are for a set term just.

It was not assisted by the reality that Frank had not been forthcoming over the true level of his cost savings and had at the last moment tried to transfer funds offshore. He was offered a punitive award and Gloria gained from 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 short and long marriages - what about a longer than typical length of marriage (12 years) for state 15 years?

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

It is constantly crucial that a pensions expert analyse the worth of a pension so the proper figure can be determined.

Which is where Gemma came unstuck. She had a 16-year marriage to City broker Paul. His pension ran into hundreds of countless pounds. Gemma was none too bothered by the pension but, like numerous wives I see, she wanted the security of remaining in the home that she enjoyed. So rather of claiming any of Paul's pension she traded it off against the worth of your home.

This is called a 'set-off', however as an attorney I would constantly suggest to any client that an actuary report is gotten first and all choices are considered.

Wives in particular can bring out a lesser offer when they pick this choice. The ethical here is that you might feel young and ready to begin afresh, however do not be too fast to trade away your future pension.

Vanessa says that in a marital relationship 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 conciliator will take into consideration all of the couple's assets to increase a settlement.

A lot of people seem to believe that mediators will go easy on the parties - and other halves in particular - might get away with more by utilizing a conciliator, than if the matter is before the court.

This is a fallacy, as Neil discovered. The company director believed that mediation would mean that he could put pressure on Judy to settle. It had been a long marital relationship spanning twenty-eight years and he believed that Judy was not the brightest. He felt he might bluff his way through and bamboozle the arbitrator.

What Neil had actually not reckoned upon was the tenacity and cleverness of the conciliator who insisted that all information be produced for the meetings. The mediator could see that Neil was being obstructive in responding to queries about financial transactions and movement of cash in between subsidiary business.

Little had Neil believed that the conciliator had actually been a forensic investigator for HMRC, before ending up being a matrimonial arbitrator. After many sessions the mediator recommended a settlement figure which Neil was outraged by and insisted they go to court. Unfortunately for Neil - the exact same settlement figure was reached in court. It's worth remembering that mediation can be a better way of resolving matters however is never a soft option.

Mediators will help the couple and advise actuaries to exercise pension divisions whatever the length of the marital relationship. The courts are now encouraging the celebrations to think about options to court procedures especially. Arbitration is likewise being motivated. All these choices are readily available simply put, medium and long marital relationships.

This is the factor EVERYONE is separating ... and why your marriage is at threat without you recognizing

So no matter the length of your marital relationship, I encourage all my clients not to have impractical expectations of what the final figure should be. It's essential to understand that you can not punish your quickly to be ex-partner in the courtroom. Unless you can demonstrate that the behaviour of your partner has actually had a monetary impact, the conduct or behaviour will be disregarded.

Let me present you now to Henry, who thought that he was being particularly clever when he moved his shares in the household company to his brother, cashed in the capital from his pension and provided it to a good friend and bought himself a Lamborghini.

This was since Claudia, his partner of twelve years had started divorce procedures. At the end of the lawsuits, the court discovered that he was deliberately trying to lower the properties readily available to Claudia and included back all the worth of the pension, the expense of the Lamborghini and the shares to his side of the equation and after that divided all of it in half. Henry's actions were so contrived that his attempts to drain pipes the possessions totally backfired on him. Oh and Henry had to sell the Lamborghini.

The ethical of the story when it comes to how to maximise your settlement? Don't try to be too creative, play fair and truthfully, or risk the extremely opposite of what you wished to accomplish. Divorce can be a minefield, and it does not need to blow up for either of you if you both take practical steps towards solving matters.

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