Can My Spouse Touch my Pension on Divorce?

In short, yes. As a part of divorce proceedings a court has power to make a Pension Sharing Order (PSO).

These orders transfer a part of the pension to the other person when the divorce is complete. They can apply to virtually any pension except the state pension. The court needs to decide what they think is fair when considering such an order, but they are very common in long marriages and long relationships which turn into marriages.

The court usually looks at giving both spouses an equal pension pot going forward although other factors such as age, poor health and how other assets such as the family home have been divided to affect this. This is an area that nearly always needs specialist advice particularly if there are multiple pensions or their value is large as pensions are not easy to compare against other assets such as the house or cash.

These orders are only available to those who are married or in a civil partnership and they must be ordered by a court – they cannot be made simply by agreement between the parties without a judges’ approval.