UK State pension/DE DRV when divorcing

[Emkay]

I’d really appreciate some advice on how pensions are allocated when divorcing. I only have future UK state pension. No DE pension. I have been advised that I could receive a share of my husband’s future DRV points for the time we were married. At the time of marriage, I had 29.5 years of UK State Pension contributions. I’ve topped up since to 35 years. How would UK state pension be split when divorcing?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

[GaryC]

I assume you reach UK pension age after 5 April 2016 and current husband has no UK entitlement.

If so, your new state pension remains personal to you and would not (under UK law) feature as an asset in the divorce. However, if you are entitled to a "protected payment" because at 5 April 2016 your "starting amount" for the new rules exceeded the new maximum (this happens when a person has a significant amount of "additional pension" from the second, earnings-related, state pension under the old rules), then the court can make a pension sharing order in relation to that protected payment, meaning it is an asset in the divorce, but not in relation to the new SP itself.

So, if a person's pension forecast based on their NI at the time of the divorce exceeds £230.25 (2025/26 pension rate) the excess is a protected payment and that excess can be subject to a pension sharing order.

Given that you have made voluntary contributions, you almost certainly don't have a protected payment, unless payment of pre-2016/17 voluntary NI years gave rise to protected payment when your starting amount for 2016/17 onwards was re-calculated following payment of those voluntary years.

If your forecast is £230.25 or less then no protected payment exists and you don't need to worry yourself about the nuances.

Whether the German divorce courts would view the UK pension in the same way is another question...

[Emkay]

Thank you GaryC. I reach UK state pension age in 7.5 years. My last forecast 2 years ago was no more than ca.£210 per week. I’m waiting for a reply to my latest forecast request. I can only guess that the 5.5 years I topped up since marriage wouldn’t be much of a split if my husband has an entitlement?

[Fraufruit]

What does your lawyer say, Emkay?

[GaryC]

If your current UK pension forecast is less than £230.25 then you don't have and cannot not generate a protected payment.

[alma.freya]

It's the court's job to perform the pension equalisation. Once your/your husband's lawyer files for divorce with the local court, the local court will send each spouse a questionnaire where you provide pension information. There is a section where you can provide your foreign pension information i.e UK national insurance number.

[Emkay]

If your current UK pension forecast is less than £230.25 then you don't have and cannot not generate a protected payment.

Thanks so much Gary.

I just got my latest UK state pension forecast by post. The forecast is £230.04 per week. I think the slightly less than £230.25 relates to having had opted out years that I’ve since topped up? Would this suggest new state pension that is not officially splittable when divorcing?

Does anyone have experience how the German legal system notionally allocates a sum when divorcing? I had 29.5 years prior marriage in 2011. I paid 5.5 years since marriage to complete (more years due to opted out period…maybe 37 in total).

Just to ask, is this forecast likely to be reliably accurate? Only asking as my husband had DRV forecasts annually that are quite a bit different to when he requests a specific points type forecast. Older UK state pension forecasts showed more details ie years contributed, opted out periods etc.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

[GaryC]

Sorry for not replying earlier but I have been away for a couple of months exploring the upside down and furthest-away inhabited islands, aka NZ.

Your post is from 6 April but I assume he forecast you mention is from before that date, so using last years' pension rates? If so, then the slight difference is indeed to the maximum, and related primarily to you having been contracted out of the second state pension (SERPS/S2P). That number will have increased by 4.8% from 6 April, rounded up to the nearest 10p.

As far as I am aware there is no splitting of the new state pension (under the old rules the SERPS element could be dealt with in that way but not the basic old pension).

I don't know how the German divorce laws will view the amount but a simple apportionment based on years contributed would not seem appropriate as there is no direct link of that sort in the UK system.

Under the old rules (that probably applied to give the better starting amount at 6 April 2016 for the new state pension as you were contracted out), a maximum of 30 years counted towards the pension. So, for the transitional rules a maximum of 30 NI years would be counted at 5 April 2016. Since then, each year you have paid adds 1/35 x £ maximum nSP to your accrued amount. Hope that helps.

The UK forecasts are accurate. Since I have been looking at this stuff (about 6 or 7 years now) I, and fellow admins on a Facebook group, have seen only 3 or 4 ones with errors and that was related to cases where contracting out had been missed for some reason - and we have seen literally thousands of forecasts in that time. The pension forecasts have never shown the information you suggest since the new State Pension was introduced.