Some couples will save up for retirement without any sort of organized plan. They may just save money in a bank account or put money into investments together. If they get divorced, it may be fairly straightforward to divide up these financial accounts. They are marital assets, so they have to be split.
However, some workers are also earning a pension plan from their employer. When they retire, they will get access to these critical benefits. If you’re going through a divorce, is there any way for you to preserve your right to these pension benefits if it was your spouse who was—and perhaps still is—earning the pension plan?
Pensions are often marital assets
Like savings, pensions are earned during the marriage. This often means that they qualify as marital assets and have to go through property division along with bank accounts, investment portfolios and everything else.
One of the main differences is simply that the employee who is earning the pension doesn’t actually have access to the funds yet, so the couple cannot split up the money directly. What they do instead is determine how those future payments will be split between the two of them and then draft a QDRO—qualified domestic relations order—specifying how the percentages should be applied.
Exactly what percentage of a pension plan an ex deserves will depend on a wide variety of factors, including the length of the marriage, so every determination is unique.
However, it’s very important to know that you can preserve these valuable assets and you don’t lose all access to them in a divorce. Take the time to carefully look into all of the legal options at your disposal.