Divorce lawyers in the UK may have to consider paying out compensation to hundreds of thousands of disgruntled divorcees, because possibly as many as half of all divorce settlements in the UK since the law was changed in 2000 may have had the pension undervalued when the divorce settlement was reached. That is according to Divorce LifeLine, a specialist divorce and pension consultancy which has been investigating the situation.

The company has estimated that up to half of the 1.5 million divorces that have taken place in the UK since the law was changed may have not had their divorce settlement correctly valued by a financial expert. Many divorcees therefore could have lost tens of thousands of pounds.

Divorce LifeLine is now working with divorced women throughout the country to find out whether or not their divorce settlements were undervalued. Where they are, Divorce LifeLine pursues a case on the divorcee's behalf, against their former solicitors, without involving the former spouse at all.

Tony Derbyshire, co-founder and partner of Divorce LifeLine commented: "Divorce is one of life's most stressful events and divorcees can do without the added stress of their divorce lawyer neglecting to protect their clients' best interests. This is about ensuring divorcees are treated fairly and receive the true settlement they were entitled to. This process has nothing to do with the former spouse, who is not involved in the claim process at all.

"As pensions are such complex financial assets, calculating the true value of a pension in a divorce settlement is difficult. It is easy undervalue the pension without the expert advice of an actuary or independent financial advisor (IFA) and it seems most divorce lawyers have failed to seek this advice.

"The information that we have obtained reveals cause for concern. In the vast majority of the cases we have seen so far this year, the divorce solicitors should have had the pension valued by a professional such as an actuary or an independent financial advisor, as part of the divorce settlement process, but they did not."

However, the Law Society Gazette quotes James Copson, a partner at London firm Withers, who said that courts are reluctant to grant permission for expert witness evidence in pensions cases to obtain a valuation.

"Courts will only allow such evidence if there is a big pension or if it forms a large proportion of the resources. That's the fundamental problem," he said.

He agreed that in the "most gross cases", it might be right to pursue the solicitor; but, he added: "It's a difficult area, because solicitors are not experts and experts come at a cost, which some clients are not willing to pay."