In the event your marriage or Civil Partnership breaks down, the courts have the power to take pension benefits into account when they share out a couple’s assets to settle a divorce or dissolution of a Civil Partnership.
The court can choose to:
- Offset the value of your pension against your share of the other assets;
- Earmark a share of your pension and cash sum (England and Wales only) so that when the benefits start, part must be paid to your ex-partner;
- Make a sharing order against your Scheme pension - in this case, your own share of the pension remains in the Scheme and the value of your ex-partner’s share will be transferred out of the Scheme unless your ex-partner is already a member of the Scheme, in which case, the Trustee (with the Company’s consent) may decide to retain your ex-partner’s pension share in the Scheme.
In the event that a sharing order is made, the Scheme will transfer your ex-Spouse or ex-Civil Partner’s benefit entitlement out of the Scheme to another regulated pension arrangement selected by your ex-partner. If no selection is made by your ex-partner the Trustee will pay the transfer value of their benefits to a default individual arrangement with the Scheme. The Scheme may make a charge for providing information requested by the court.
If you need pension information for your divorce/dissolution, please contact the Pensions Administration Team. It is also recommended that you update your Dependant Nomination Form.