
If you get divorced, or dissolve a civil partnership, the Court will take your pension assets into account when determining any settlement.
You and your ex-spouse or partner will each need to tell the Court the value of your pension pot(s) and/or the value of the benefits you have built up. You don't have the automatic right to know the value of your ex-spouse's or partner's benefits, and vice versa but you can each decide to tell each other.
In England the value of your pension benefits at the date of divorce or dissolution of the civil partnership that is counted.
When you go to Court, you and your ex-spouse or partner can decide how any pension benefits are split. You can decide to accept:
You may wish to get legal advice from your solicitor on how to deal with your LGPS benefits during any divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership.
You will need specific information about your LGPS benefits as part of the proceedings for a divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage, or for dissolution, separation or nullity of a civil partnership. You or your solicitor should contact your pension fund for this information, including an estimate of the cash equivalent value (CEV) of your pension rights. The Court will take this value into account in your settlement. In Scotland, only the pension rights built up during your marriage / civil partnership are taken into account.
Any other costs for supplying information or complying with a Court Order will be recovered from you and/or your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner in accordance with a schedule of charges from Teesside Pension Fund.
All correspondence received by Teesside Pension Fund in connection with divorce or dissolution proceedings will be acknowledged in writing. If no acknowledgement is received, you should contact us to ensure that your correspondence has been received.
If your LGPS benefits are subject to a Pension Sharing Order and you remarry, enter into a new civil partnership or into a cohabiting partnership, any spouse's pension, civil partner's pension or eligible cohabiting partner's pension payable following your death will also be reduced.
If you remarry or enter into a new civil partnership and then divorce or dissolve your civil partnership again, your remaining pension rights can be subject to further division, although a Pension Sharing Order cannot be issued if an Earmarking Order has already been issued against your LGPS pension rights. Similarly, an Earmarking Order cannot be issued if your pension benefits are already subject to a Pension Sharing Order in respect of the marriage/civil partnership.