Info & Advice

What happens to your State Pension if you separate or divorce?

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What happens to your State Pension if you separate or divorce depends on when you reached State Pension age? There are two regimes in place that deal differently with those who reached State Pension age before 6th April 2016 and after 5th April 2015.

Before 6th April 2016 (the old State Pension)

The basic State Pension cannot be split in a divorce, but the additional State Pension can be. The additional State Pension is based on your earnings, which you could have built up if you were employed and earned above a certain amount. If an ex-spouse remarries or enters a civil partnership, they may lose the right to claim additional State Pension from their former partner.

After 5th April 2016 (the new State Pension)

The new State Pension is based on an individual’s National Insurance record and cannot be shared in a divorce. However, if you built up an additional State Pension or protected payment, a court could order that this be shared. A protected payment is paid in addition to your state pension if you were entitled to a higher amount under the old State Pension rules.

What is a protected payment?

If you qualify for the new state pension, you will receive a “starting amount”. Your National Insurance record before 6th April 2016 determines your starting amount. If this is more than the full new state pension, you will have a protected payment. The court could order that your ex receive some of this, unless they go on to remarry or enter a civil partnership.

Will sharing a State Pension in divorce affect the amount received for the pension owner?

While the State Pension itself cannot be directly shared or split between spouses in the same way as private pensions, divorce may still affect the amount one can receive, depending on the circumstances.

For divorces that involve individuals under the older State Pension system (before April 2016), a spouse or civil partner may be entitled to a share of their partner’s Additional State Pension (also known as the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme or SERPS). During divorce proceedings, the court may issue a pension sharing order, allowing a portion of the Additional State Pension to be transferred to the other party. This could reduce the amount received by the pension owner.

Under the new State Pension system (post-April 2016), there is no option to share the State Pension directly. However, a divorced person may still use their ex-partner’s National Insurance contributions record to boost their own pension entitlement if they do not have enough contributions of their own, provided they do not remarry before reaching State Pension age.

Ultimately, while the State Pension itself isn’t split in the same way as private pensions, divorce can indirectly affect the pension amount the owner receives, particularly under the older system.

Does it make a difference if both parties have their own state pension?

If both parties in a divorce have their own State Pension entitlements, the impact of divorce on their pensions may be less significant.

Under the old system, if both individuals have sufficient National Insurance contributions to qualify for their own State Pension, the divorce is less likely to impact their individual Basic State Pension entitlements. However, if one party has a higher entitlement to the Additional State Pension, a pension sharing order during the divorce could allow part of this to be transferred to the other spouse. This could reduce the pension amount for the party who originally had the higher entitlement.

Under the new system, both parties’ State Pensions are based solely on their individual National Insurance contribution records. Therefore, if both parties have their own full State Pension entitlements, divorce has no direct impact on their State Pension amounts. The new system does not allow sharing or transferring pension rights between former spouses.

If both parties have their own complete pension contributions, the divorce is not likely to affect the amount each receives from the State Pension.

Can one party claim income from their ex’s state pension even if they are not yet retired?

One party cannot claim income from their ex-spouse’s State Pension while the ex-spouse is still alive and not yet retired. The State Pension is based on an individual’s National Insurance contributions, and payments only begin once the person reaches State Pension age.

Will the amount received increase as the pension does?

The amount of State Pension the owner receives typically increases over time because of the triple lock system. This ensures that the State Pension increases each year by the highest of three measures: inflation (Consumer Price Index), average earnings growth, or 2.5%. This annual increase applies regardless of marital status, so the pension owner will see their State Pension payments grow over time.

If an ex-spouse is entitled to a pension based on their former partner’s National Insurance record under the old rules, the amount they receive may also increase in line with the triple lock system. This is because the entitlement is treated like a normal State Pension and will rise accordingly each year.

Under the new rules, since the pension is based entirely on an individual’s own NI contributions, there’s no mechanism to claim from an ex-spouse’s pension. Each party’s State Pension will increase annually according to the triple lock, but only based on their own contributions.

How is the money taken from the pension owner to the recipient spouse?

State Pensions are not directly taken from one spouse and given to the other in the same way as private pensions might be divided during a divorce. However, under the old system, there are specific provisions for how a divorced spouse can benefit from their ex-partner’s National Insurance contributions.

This transfer is done through a pension sharing order, which is issued by the court. The pension provider (or government, in the case of State Pensions) will implement the division, ensuring the recipient spouse receives their share once they reach pension age. Importantly, the pension owner’s payments remain unaffected for their own State Pension, except for the Additional State Pension portion that is split.

Under the new system, there is no option to share or split the State Pension itself during divorce. Therefore, the question of how money is transferred doesn’t apply because each person receives their own pension based on their own NI contributions.


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