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Your pension rights at the end of a relationship

Only couples who were married or in civil partnerships have the right to make a claim on their husband, wife or civil partner’s pension.

If you were living together but were not married or in a civil partnership, you have no legal right to any of your partner’s pension. But you could use some or all of a pension as part of a settlement if you choose.

How you can use pensions in a financial settlement

There are three ways that pensions could be handled as part of a financial agreement when you split up.

Pension offsetting

Pension offsetting means the value of one partner’s pension is compared to the value of the couple’s other assets, like property. When the financial arrangement is made, the partner with the pension will keep the pension and the other partner will receive something of equivalent value.

For example, it might be decided that one person keeps their pension and the other person keeps the house.

Pension sharing

Pension sharing is where the value of one partner’s pension at the time of the divorce is divided between both of you. You may not receive an equal share, as a court might decide that one partner should have a greater share of the pension than the other.

If you receive a share of your partner’s pension you may have some choices as to what you can do with it. These could include:

• becoming a member of your partner’s pension scheme (if the scheme’s administrators allow it)
  
• transferring a sum of money to your own pension
  
• transferring a sum of money to a new pension you have set up

Depending on how the pension scheme works, you may receive an income and a lump sum of money once you retire. The pension scheme will probably charge you a fee for the work involved in sharing a pension.

Pension attachment

A pension attachment means that you will receive an agreed percentage of your partner’s occupational or personal pension when it is paid to them. This could be a lump sum of money or it could be a regular pension payment.

However, if your partner dies, you would not receive any more money. This is because you only receive money from an attachment order if money is paid to the pensioner.

If the order is for regular payments, these would stop if you remarry. But, depending on the terms of the order, you may get a lump sum if your former partner dies.

Knowing what your pension is worth

In the process of discussing any financial agreement, the value of your pension is likely to be an important factor.

Both you and your partner should get your pensions valued before you make any decisions or arrangements. Your pensions include any occupational and personal pensions and your state additional pension.

• Pensions - an overview

How to value your pension

If you have a ‘defined contribution’ pension, you can get an accurate value of your pension from your annual statement.

If you do not have a recent statement or you have a ’defined benefit’ pension, speak to your pension provider.

You can get the value of your additional State Pension by sending form BR20 to the Pension Service.

• Download 'Pensions and divorce or dissolution' (BR20) (PDF, 71K)

• Help with PDF files

Sharing pension information with your former partner

Your partner does not have a legal right to ask your pension provider for a valuation. But if you do use a pension as part of a settlement, you’ll need to get a court order. You will have to show the court and your former spouse or civil partner the valuation so that a fair order can be made.

Agreeing between yourselves about pensions

If you intend to have a pension share or attachment as part of a settlement, you’ll need a court order. The court order will tell the pension provider how to deal with the pension.

You and your partner should try to reach an agreement about what to do with your pensions. If you can’t agree between yourselves, you’ll need to ask the court to decide for you. Getting the court to decide can be stressful, as well as costing more time and money.

Mediation services can also help you when you are trying to reach an agreement about financial matters without going to court.

However, any agreements you make with your partner should still be checked with a solicitor.

A solicitor can’t guarantee that the proposed arrangements will be agreed by the court, but they will have a good idea. They will make sure that the arrangements are fair and you understand what it will mean to you. This can help prevent any more disagreements in the future.

• Solicitors, mediation and legal advice to end a relationship

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Going to court

If you’ve reached an agreement between you about your pensions, you’ll need to make an application to the court for a ‘consent order’.

If you're unable to reach an agreement, you can apply for a 'financial order' through the court. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘ancillary relief’ process. The court will try to help you to reach agreement. If you can’t agree, it will decide what to do with all your assets including pensions.

The court will consider things like how long you’ve been married or in a civil partnership, what other assets you have and how old you both are.

• Legal agreements if you split up or separate

• Applying for a financial order